Infected tooth Archives | Williams Family Dentistry

How Great is the Risk of Nerve Damage With Wisdom Tooth Extraction?

Posted on July 8, 2025 by writeradmin.

I am in my mid thirties and have always been nervous about getting my wisdom teeth out. All of them are impacted. Now I’m told I have a small infection on one of them, but the oral surgeon is warning me that it is about one millimeter from a nerve called the inferior something nerve. How much danger is this? Can I just take antibiotics for the infection?

Rose

Dear Rose,

Impacted Wisdom Teeth

We’ll get to the nerve issue in a moment. Let’s start with the antibiotics. That won’t work. Well, it will hold the infection at bay until you can get the wisdom tooth extracted, but as soon as you run out of antibiotics the infection will flare back up again. You’ll have to remove the infected tooth. Given your age, I’m going to recommend that you get all of the wisdom teeth out.

The ideal time to get your wisdom teeth out is your late teens and early twenties. After that the chances of complications go up every five years. If you wait until you hit your forties, there are serious chances of complications. If they are all impacted, it is only a matter of time until the others get infected. You’ll want to extract them before there is a dental emergency and you have less control over the circumstances.

As for the nerve. It’s called the inferior alveolar nerve. Oral surgeons tend to overstate the risks because we live in quite a litigious society. Proclaiming the greatest possible risk reduces the chance of a malpractice lawsuit. A skilled oral surgeon should not have any problem with a nerve that is a full millimeter away. That is a much larger measurement to a dentist than to most people.

In order to hit the nerve, your surgeon would either have to take the tooth out and then drill down another millimeter (a completely mental thing to do) or he’d have to break the tooth and then put downward pressure on the broken tooth fragment. That would be completely contrary to his or her training. Skilled dentists and oral surgeons have taken out wisdom teeth that were literally sitting on the nerve without any issues.

I hope this puts you more at ease. Your safest option is to remove your wisdom teeth now.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Dentist Dr. James Williams.

Dentist Wants to Extract Tooth Prematurely

Posted on March 23, 2020 by writeradmin.

I have pain in a molar and went to see a holistic dentist. He did some x-rays and said there doesn’t seem to be much of the canal left only calcification. He’s giving me antibiotics and if that doesn’t work he wants to extract the tooth. I’m not too crazy about that. Have you heard of this before? Is there another alternative?

Casey

Dear Casey,

When a tooth is infected, it needs a root canal treatment.

I want to hit the pause button here because I’m concerned regarding what I’m hearing. I’m worried your dentist doesn’t understand some things. There are good and bad medical practitioners in every field, including dentistry. It sounds like your holistic dentist is at best confused.

Let’s start with the antibiotics. If you have a tooth infection, these will not cure it. When antibiotics are used for dental infections it is to hold the infection at bay until a root canal treatment can be done. What will happen is the pain will go away as you’re taking the antibiotics. However, once they’re done, the infection will blow up again. Until the infected pulp is physically removed it will spread.

Let’s say, however, the antibiotics don’t help at all, not even when you’re taking them. That means an infection isn’t the cause of your pain. This means your dentist will be extracting a tooth without a true diagnosis.

Just because your dentist can’t see the canal well on the x-ray doesn’t mean it is not there. I’m going to recommend you get a second opinion, if possible from an endodontist.

As for the calcification, as we age, our canals tend to shrink. Plus, if a tooth is irritated, it will build up dentin on the insides of the pulp chamber. In the more extreme cases, it will block the canals. However, an endodontist will have special tools to get through the calcified parts.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Holistic Dentist Dr. John Weaver.

Infected Wisdom Tooth

Posted on January 16, 2020 by writeradmin.

I have a wisdom tooth which began to hurt. I scheduled a dental appointment and they told me it was infected and needed to be extracted. The dentist suggested I just get all the wisdom teeth extracted while I’m there. That’s going to be very expensive, but I agreed. He gave me antibiotics and told me to schedule the extraction. I didn’t actually schedule the extraction. The antibiotics kicked in and the tooth no longer hurt so I decided I didn’t need to. Now it’s hurting again. Is the infection back? Should I get more antibiotics?

Livvie

Dear Livvie,

The tooth infection never actually went away. The only thing an antibiotic does is hold it at bay. The medicine kept it in check and then when the medicine was done, it flared back up. Dental infections are different than other types. In order for the infection to completely go away, it has to be physically removed by the dentist either with a root canal treatment or by extracting the tooth. In your case, what happened is the antibiotic helped with the infection which made you feel better, but didn’t really eradicate the infection.

These need to be taken seriously because the infection will spread. Even in the 21st century, people still die from tooth infections. Think about how close your brain is to your jaw. If it spreads quickly, your life could be at risk.

Do You Need to Have All Your Wisdom Teeth Extracted?

You’re extracting this tooth because it is infected. You didn’t mention anything about the teeth being impacted. Unless they are (or also are infected) I see no reason to extract the other three. That is a waste of money and an unnecessary risk. I recommend calling the office and asking why he wants the other three wisdom teeth removed. While you’re on the phone with them, schedule your extraction.

Many patients avoid procedures like this because of dental anxiety. Let’s face it, even if you’re not someone who avoids the dentist, I doubt you’d be jumping up and down about the idea of a tooth being pulled. Fortunately, there is a way to do this in an anxiety-free (and pain-free) way.

Make sure the dentist who is doing the extraction has sedation dentistry available. This will allow you to sleep through the procedure if you want to.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Dr. John Weaver.