The pain caused by your wisdom teeth may be a bit overboard. Yes, you will experience pain in your jaw and your gums. However, does it end there? Many people have asked if the pain brought about by wisdom teeth can affect other areas of your body too. Considering this, here is a common query to be noted can wisdom teeth cause ear pain? This is a common concern in people during the eruption of their wisdom teeth or third molars.
While some people claim that they have not experienced ear pain and they are undergoing the trauma of wisdom teeth eruption, plexaderm reviews, there are also those who swear by it to you that an earache due to wisdom teeth is true. But who among these people should you believe?
Can Wisdom Teeth Cause Ear Pain?
Ear pain due to a wisdom tooth is a rare occurrence, but YES it does happen occasionally. If your wisdom teeth are impacted, it can cause pain in your jaw and this pain might radiate to your nearest ear. Some people experience frequent ear pain while their third molars are erupting.
However, there are also people who confuse wisdom teeth ear pain to the ear pain caused by a Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) problem. It occurs on the joint in your jaw bone where the jaw and the skull meet. TMD is a chronic condition and long-standing inflammation, dysfunction and destruction of this particular joint occur. TMD is often undiagnosed or even misdiagnosed. Thus the pain brought about by the condition is often mistaken for some tooth related problems such as the eruption of wisdom teeth.
While wisdom teeth do not directly cause TMD, it can contribute and worsen the pain a person with the dysfunction already experiences. Several treatments for TMD which can help in managing the pain include:
- Stretching of the jaw
- Ice pack application on the affected side of the jaw
- Ease jaw tension through meditation and other relaxation techniques
Other Causes of Dental Ear Ache
Aside from TM Joint Pain and wisdom tooth eruption, there are other causes of an earache that are associated with dental issues. It is vital for you and your dentist to be able to pinpoint the cause of ear pain to provide the correct treatment and get rid of the underlying cause.
- A Dental Abscess
- Dental Extraction
Other Problems Associated With Wisdom Teeth
Since we have already answered the question, “Can wisdom teeth cause ear pain?” let us now discuss the other problems associated with wisdom teeth. It is not only the earache that you should be concerned about but also other issues that may arise because of it.
Since wisdom teeth often erupt between the ages 18 to 25 years, in reality, it actually starts to form even before you turn 10 years of age, and just lay inside your gums waiting to erupt (or maybe not!). To better understand other problems associated with it, let us first discuss the 3 different types of wisdom teeth:
- Fully erupted wisdom teeth. These are wisdom teeth that have fully erupted and are usually aligned properly with the other molars and do not need to be removed. However, there are those fully erupted teeth that cause problems if they are angled incorrectly.
- Partially erupted wisdom teeth. As the name suggests, it is a wisdom tooth that has partially erupted showing only a portion of it that is visible, while the rest remains hidden.
- Impacted wisdom teeth. Impacted wisdom teeth are those that are not able to erupt because they are trapped inside the jawbone.
The problems of wisdom teeth are centered on the three types of wisdom teeth stated above, and these are some of the issues and challenges you might encounter if you ever get to face problems with your wisdom tooth.
Hygiene Issues
Due to some positioning problems, a fully erupted or partially erupted wisdom tooth may be hard to clean. Due to this, food and debris are often left behind and will turn into plaque which will cause tooth decay, gum problems and infection in your wisdom tooth as well as the neighboring teeth.
Cystic Formation
An impacted wisdom tooth is prone to a cystic formation. A sac may form beside the tooth that gets filled with fluid. If this is not treated for an extended period, bigger problems may arise which will require a more serious surgery rather than a simple wisdom tooth extraction.
Sinus Problems
Due to its proximity to sinuses, a wisdom tooth may lead to sinus congestion, sinus pressure, and pain.
Misalignment
All types of wisdom teeth may cause the misalignment of other teeth if they are angled incorrectly. If a wisdom tooth decides to erupt, there should be enough space to accommodate it so that there is no displacement of the other teeth. It is also important that it should grow upright because if it is angled sideways, it can squish and push other teeth to a misaligned position which will later cause them to overlap.
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