What Is the Best Time for Wisdom Teeth Extraction?

Dr. Steven Selchow is owner of Dakota Valley Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, where he frequently treats patients for impacted wisdom teeth. Like most oral surgeons, Dr. Steven Selchow typically recommends that wisdom teeth, also called third molars, be extracted during a patient’s late teens or early 20s.

Wisdom teeth usually erupt around the age of 18. In rare cases, they emerge from the gums fully and in the correct positions. If the patient is able to clean them thoroughly and no complications arise, the dentist or oral surgeon may not recommend extraction.

However, most people do not have enough room in the jaws to house all of the third molars. As a result, these teeth may stay trapped in the jawbone or only emerge slightly from the gums. This is called an impaction. Wisdom teeth are often positioned at an angle within the bone that makes them a threat to the roots of neighboring teeth. The jaw pain, gum inflammation, and other risks to the patient’s oral health caused by impacted third molars warrant extraction.

The ideal time to extract third molars is when the patient is between the ages of 18 and 24, as this is the age range in which complications rarely occur. At this time the tooth root is about two-thirds formed, and the jawbone tissue is not as dense as it is in older patients, so the oral surgeon may have less difficulty manipulating the tooth to remove it. If the roots are allowed to grow more, the tooth becomes so solidly anchored in the bone that a more extensive surgical procedure is required, increasing the risk of complications.