Impacted tooth: Types, symptoms, and treatment

Jaw pain or soreness around a tooth: A painful or sore jaw is a common sign of an impacted tooth. When a tooth does not erupt properly, it can put pressure on the jawbone and surrounding teeth. This causes pain and inflammation.

Persistent headaches: As mentioned before, an impacted tooth can put pressure on your jawbone. This pressure can also trigger your trigeminal nerve, leading to headaches.

Swelling or redness in your gums: Teeth that haven't erupted properly can push against nearby tissue and trap leftover pieces of food. This can lead to swelling and redness because of the irritated tissue or bacterial accumulation from the leftover food.

Bad breath: A tooth that has failed to erupt properly can create a pocket that traps food particles and bacteria over time. This causes a foul taste in your mouth and bad breath.

Swollen lymph nodes: Swollen lymph nodes on your neck or directly under your jaw are a sign of an impacted tooth. They are a clear indicator that your body is fighting off an infection, which could be caused by an impacted tooth.

Difficulty opening your mouth: Due to the jaw strain caused by an impacted tooth, you may experience issues with opening your mouth all the way.

Infections, cysts, and damage to other teeth: The oral hygiene issues an impacted tooth causes can lead to serious infections, dentigerous cysts, and damage to other teeth. If you notice a high fever, a painful growth, or tooth decay, you may have an impacted tooth.

Overcrowding: If your teeth are far too close to each other, it can cause impacted teeth. Your jaw won't have enough space for a tooth to erupt properly, which leads to impaction.

Tooth positioning: A tooth can be twisted or at the wrong angle when it comes out. This can lead to it getting painfully stuck in your gum or bone.

Early loss of baby teeth: Losing your baby teeth earlier than you should can lead to your adult teeth shifting out of place and becoming impacted.

Ankylosis: Ankylosis is a condition that fuses your tooth to your jawbone. This prevents normal eruption and causes impaction.

Abnormal eruption pathway: Your tooth bud could be abnormal, which causes a variety of issues with teeth, including impaction.

Dental trauma: Injuries and excessive force that damage your teeth or jaw can cause impacted teeth.

Wisdom teeth: Impacted wisdom teeth are the most common. They usually erupt in your late teens or early twenties and tend to get impacted and erupt abnormally. Wisdom teeth removal is quite common due to how often they get impacted.

Canines: Getting an impacted canine tooth is also common, especially early in life. Genetics play a large role in whether your canines are prone to impaction. Overcrowding and other dental misalignment issues can also contribute to impacted canines.

Other teeth: All of your teeth can become impacted if your dental health isn't paid attention to. Molars, for example, due to their position in the mouth, can become impacted as they erupt.

Surgical removal: A dental professional might decide to remove an impacted tooth. This is most common for very severe cases or wisdom teeth. Tooth extraction is usually considered when an impacted tooth is damaging other teeth or causing an infection.

Orthodontic treatment: In some cases, a full-blown orthodontic treatment plan may be required. Most commonly used for impacted canines, the process consists of surgically exposing the tooth, applying a bracket and a chain, and slowly moving the tooth into place so it can erupt properly.

Careful observation: For cases where there aren't obvious or disruptive symptoms, it's a good idea to carefully monitor the tooth. Dentists can perform regular X-rays and checkups to ensure that the impacted tooth does not develop further complications.

Clear aligners: Clear aligners are also helpful in mild cases of impacted teeth when combined with other orthodontic treatments. They can help align your teeth correctly to create space for the impacted tooth to erupt correctly and treat cases of crowding, which causes impactions.