{"id":824,"date":"2025-11-20T15:37:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/?p=824"},"modified":"2025-12-11T15:39:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T15:39:05","slug":"5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Dangers of Not Removing Your Wisdom Teeth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Wisdom teeth<\/a> are often considered \u201cextra\u201d or unnecessary teeth, but many patients wonder if they really need to be removed. After all, why go through an extraction if you don\u2019t have to?  Unfortunately, however, just because you may not be experiencing any negative side effects yet<\/em> (or that you\u2019re aware of), doesn\u2019t mean leaving them in place is a good idea. Here are some dangerous complications of not removing impacted wisdom teeth, and why there\u2019s no need to be afraid of having them extracted!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Oral Health & Hygiene Problems<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Because they\u2019re in the back of your mouth, when wisdom teeth erupt it can be difficult to reach them with a toothbrush or dental floss. Unfortunately, this not only impacts things like your breath, but it also increases your risk of cavities and tooth decay. Removing your wisdom teeth will free up the space in the back of your arches so your mouth is easier to keep clean. It can also help protect the alignment of your smile and reduce the risk of dental crowding that could require orthodontic care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pericoronitis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pericoronitis is the technical name for the inflammation of the gums that occurs when a tooth erupts. It typically begins when food or plaque gets trapped under that little piece of tissue over the tooth. It can cause bad breath and even lead to periodontal disease if not treated. Not to mention, it can be extremely uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Periodontal (Gum) Disease<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Periodontal disease develops when harmful bacteria infiltrate the gums. This can happen because of untreated pericoronitis (as mentioned above) or by poor oral hygiene habits. Unfortunately, however, even if you are a diligent brusher and flosser, wisdom teeth can complicate oral hygiene because they\u2019re harder to reach. This increases the risk of them becoming inflamed and developing excess buildup which can cause gum disease.  Worse yet, if left untreated, it can eventually cost you teeth and even portions of your jawbone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damage to Nearby Teeth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wisdom teeth first appeared in early man to replace worn back molars. Because their diets consisted of raw meats, roots, and other tough foods, their teeth didn\u2019t last long. By their mid to late teens, wisdom teeth were likely a welcome addition. However, early man had a much wider jaw and could easily accommodate those teeth so even if they didn\u2019t necessarily need them, they didn\u2019t cause the problems they do with modern man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, because our jaws are much smaller, wisdom teeth often cause crowding or grow sideways, which can negatively impact nearby teeth. In fact, sometimes they can completely break healthy back molars below the surface, meaning you\u2019ll need to have those removed, too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cysts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finally, another risk of not removing your wisdom teeth is the development of cysts, which are fluid-filled sacs that form around the wisdom tooth. Although they are typically benign, they frequently push against nearby teeth, bones, and gums, and can cause many painful and serious complications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, while you may not be in a rush to remove your wisdom teeth because they don\u2019t hurt yet or aren\u2019t noticeably bothering you, the truth is that in many cases if left in place they can do a lot of painful damage. Thus, if your dentist recommends extraction, don\u2019t put your beautiful smile at risk and remove your wisdom teeth so your mouth stays healthy and strong for a lifetime!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Our Practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At Waterbury Smiles<\/a>, our trio of caring and compassionate dentists understands that most people probably don\u2019t want to have their teeth extracted. The good news is that with wisdom tooth removal, the benefits are well worth it. If you\u2019d like to schedule a wisdom tooth extraction, visit our website<\/a> or call us today at 203-575-9097.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wisdom teeth are often considered \u201cextra\u201d or unnecessary teeth, but many patients wonder if they really need to be removed. After all, why go through an extraction if you don\u2019t have to?  Unfortunately, however, just because you may not be experiencing any negative side effects yet (or that you\u2019re aware of), doesn\u2019t mean leaving them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Dangers of Not Removing Your Wisdom Teeth | Waterbury Smiles Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wondering why your dentist wants you to remove your wisdom teeth? Here are five dangerous consequences of leaving them in place.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Dangers of Not Removing Your Wisdom Teeth | Waterbury Smiles Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wondering why your dentist wants you to remove your wisdom teeth? Here are five dangerous consequences of leaving them in place.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Waterbury Smiles Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-20T15:37:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-11T15:39:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AdobeStock_501786922.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"drmarini\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"drmarini\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/\",\"name\":\"5 Dangers of Not Removing Your Wisdom Teeth | Waterbury Smiles Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AdobeStock_501786922.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-20T15:37:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-11T15:39:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b287573e50720eac1bd63949dd3cca19\"},\"description\":\"Wondering why your dentist wants you to remove your wisdom teeth? Here are five dangerous consequences of leaving them in place.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AdobeStock_501786922.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AdobeStock_501786922.jpg\",\"width\":596,\"height\":429},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 Dangers of Not Removing Your Wisdom Teeth\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Waterbury Smiles Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b287573e50720eac1bd63949dd3cca19\",\"name\":\"drmarini\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8ec6ec7d45bd2d92df0aa35e3ed5bde7ce1f82174838f6fa01300ec9ac062fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8ec6ec7d45bd2d92df0aa35e3ed5bde7ce1f82174838f6fa01300ec9ac062fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"drmarini\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/author\/drmarini\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Dangers of Not Removing Your Wisdom Teeth | Waterbury Smiles Blog","description":"Wondering why your dentist wants you to remove your wisdom teeth? Here are five dangerous consequences of leaving them in place.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Dangers of Not Removing Your Wisdom Teeth | Waterbury Smiles Blog","og_description":"Wondering why your dentist wants you to remove your wisdom teeth? Here are five dangerous consequences of leaving them in place.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/","og_site_name":"Waterbury Smiles Blog","article_published_time":"2025-11-20T15:37:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-11T15:39:05+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AdobeStock_501786922.jpg"}],"author":"drmarini","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"drmarini","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/","url":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/","name":"5 Dangers of Not Removing Your Wisdom Teeth | Waterbury Smiles Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AdobeStock_501786922.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-20T15:37:04+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-11T15:39:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b287573e50720eac1bd63949dd3cca19"},"description":"Wondering why your dentist wants you to remove your wisdom teeth? Here are five dangerous consequences of leaving them in place.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AdobeStock_501786922.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AdobeStock_501786922.jpg","width":596,"height":429},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/5-dangers-of-not-removing-your-wisdom-teeth\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Dangers of Not Removing Your Wisdom Teeth"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/","name":"Waterbury Smiles Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b287573e50720eac1bd63949dd3cca19","name":"drmarini","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8ec6ec7d45bd2d92df0aa35e3ed5bde7ce1f82174838f6fa01300ec9ac062fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8ec6ec7d45bd2d92df0aa35e3ed5bde7ce1f82174838f6fa01300ec9ac062fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"drmarini"},"url":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/author\/drmarini\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":826,"href":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824\/revisions\/826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waterburysmiles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}