Most wisdom teeth will eventually need to be removed. Just because there are no symptoms doesn't mean that there are no problems or that problems won't develop. If there is a high likelihood of problems, the teeth should be removed sooner rather than later.

Some issues seen with retained 3rd molars:

• bone loss

• infections of the gum

• decay in the wisdom tooth or next tooth

• the inability to clean around the teeth

• food packing

• pain and pressure during eruption

• development of cysts

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The x-ray above shows a lower impacted wisdom tooth which has been left in place too long. There is now a very large hole in the adjacent tooth - which cannot be fixed. Both the wisdom tooth and the next tooth were removed. Removing the wisdom tooth earlier would have prevented this.