<p>Apparently at age 63, I am teething. I have a wisdom tooth very partially erupting and was told to see an oral surgeon to get it out. Has anyone else had this unfortunate experience at such an advance age? 
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<p>Is it hurting you? I have my wisdom teeth still at 48. One was missing from birth. One seems partially emerged. They don’t bother me. Hope they don’t suddenly start!</p>
<p>there are issues for 60 year olds that are distinct from those for 20 year olds. I’d spend a little time looking into the options. </p>
<p>I wish I had had mine extracted when I was 20, but they weren’t a problem and for some reason (IIRC) no one said it really ought to be done. </p>
<p>Are they bothering you a lot? You may want to wait. Mine went up and down for several years but still got them.</p>
<p>It may or may not bother you. My dad has all four of his wisdom teeth, but he lost permanent teeth so there was room.</p>
<p>You should see an oral surgeon to ask him or her for advice. Not immediately assume they must come out. You should get some scans to see what is going on, oral surgeons usually have an in-office CAT scan machine. </p>
<p>One of the issues with a partially erupted wisdom tooth is the potential for food getting stuck and causing swelling and abscess. I had one when I was young and I always used a waterpik to avoid issues. Finally had it taken out in my 20’s.</p>
<p>Not that advanced but I know my dad got his wisdom teeth taken out when I was a teenager, he was probably in his late 30s at the time. Don’t know much about it, he did get them taken out. </p>
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<p>Just curious, what became a problem? I have mine grown in, pretty sure the top ones are as fully grown as they will ever be, the lower ones might grow a little more, but I’ve not have any problems with them. Occasionally I have a day or two of some pain (only 1, by the lower left side) there but then it goes away.</p>
<p>VaBluebird–Make an appt with an oral surgeon for a consultation. People do get wisdom teeth out at your age. Some reasons might be decay, tooth can no longer hold a filling, fracture, or like you, the tooth decides to try erupting and can’t come all the way in. A partially erupted tooth is a huge food trap that not only can cause swelling of the gum over the tooth, but also cause the tooth to decay. It is almost always easier to remove an intact tooth that is partly covered by non-infected gum tissue than one that is rotted from decay and covered by swollen tissue.</p>
<p>With an xray and exam, the surgeon can determine whether or not the tooth needs to be monitored or extracted.</p>
<p>Vlad</p>
<p>Im not sure of the terminology, but my wisdom teeth on the bottom were aligned at right angles to what they should have been. Instead of pointing up like the other teeth, the two in the back were pointed forward (not just tilted a little) and aligned almost parallel to the ground pointing forward. Eventually this put some pressure on my other teeth, and led to a food trap/decay situation that required a root canal on the adjoining tooth.</p>
<p>I had an inventive dentist who did an “outside the box” solution to remove the top of the offending wisdom tooth, and so far it hasn’t led to more problems. It was only a problem on the one side. </p>
<p>My comment was engendered by seeing the X-rays and realizing that these two on the bottom were badly, badly misaligned in a way that God and nature had not intended. For some reason when I was younger I either hadn’t seen the X-rays, or was younger and didn’t care if it wasn’t a problem at the time. By the time I realized that it should have been fixed at age 20, I was in my 50s and had read too much about problems of healing in older patients.</p>
<p>My kids have all had their wisdom teeth taken care of in their late teens. </p>
<p>I think if new teeth start coming in it can mess with the teeth that are already there, potentially crowding them and making existing teeth crooked. But maybe that’s a myth, I’m not really sure.</p>
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<p>Horizontal impaction.
<a href=“http://www.animated-teeth.com/wisdom_teeth/id-wisdom-teeth-impaction-types-x-ray-jpg.htm”>http://www.animated-teeth.com/wisdom_teeth/id-wisdom-teeth-impaction-types-x-ray-jpg.htm</a></p>
<p>I had my 2 wisdom teeth removed in my mid-40s. I only ever had 2 and there was enough room for them. However, they didn’t have anything to bump up against, and kept coming in slowly and without being dulled by another pair facing them. Eventually, they started bugging me by touching the gum on my lower jaw. The dentist said it was also a risk for gum disease, since they were harder to clean. Getting them out was not that bad, though the hole where they had been bugged me for several months.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s any standard approach to wisdom teeth, and there is a lot of variation among individuals. My son was told at 16 that his were ready to come out, but we waited a year to remove them and everything was fine. I’d ask what the harm would be in leaving them in. In my son’s case, the teeth were growing sideways and were at risk of pushing against his other molars. Since we’d already spent a fortune in orthodontics, we didn’t want to wreck his teeth!</p>
<p>I am about the same age and still have my wisdom tooth. My dentist told me that I should go to an oral surgeon to take it out. But I am not sure whether I should do it at my age (So I read this thread with an interest.)</p>
<p>Totally irrelevant, wacky and untrue. Have you ever heard of this superstition:</p>
<p>“If you take out your wisdom teeth, you’ll breakup with your Korean girlfriend or boyfriend…” :)</p>
<p>I just took my mom to the oral surgeon to have one removed. Age 92. :)</p>
<p>My philosophy is “if it doesn’t hurt, don’t fix it”. Unless you have spent a boatload on orthodonture.</p>
<p>I’m not sure it was my wisdom teeth or not but I had similar situation to post#11 and I resisted the dentist for remove it but eventually he did. But then the next tooth over also had to have implant because the next one was removed.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, my daughter, 17 was told she needed to have her 4 wisdom teeth removed. I questioned this because they were not bothering her but she had two small cavities. The dentist said it would prevent problems later. Anyhow, I called the oral surgeon, they referred me to and they first wanted a consult, panoramic xrays and then the extraction. This would all cost between 3,500-5,000. She would probably miss a day or two of school, plus the day of consult since the office hours were inconvenient for students.</p>
<p>I called the dentist office back and spoke to the head dentist who had treated her since she was a toddler My daughter had initially been seen by her new associate. She was surprised by the cost. She reviewed the file and said that the issue was not that serious and that both teeth could be fixed for $450 in one visit. Wow. I am glad I checked. That said, it is possible, she might need them removed in the future, due to cavities or maybe not. I have had only one removed and the rest have not bothered me yet. Same for my husband. As someone upthread said, the resulting, hole in my gum was bothersome for some time afterwards. </p>
<p>I think it is the trend to get them “taken care of”. I would check if there are options and see if it is necessary or just the easier way to deal with it. </p>
<p>My wisdom teeth were completely erupted when I was 13. I had fillings in them in my late 20s (geneic pitted teeth with thin enamel in the pits), then no other problems for another 10-15 years. One broke and was pulled and two others needed crowns when the old fillings broke so the actual tooth wouldn’t break. Out they went. I still have one.</p>
<p>I am just always suspect when there is money to be made and prefer to take a conservative route. I always wonder about procedures being done prophylactically. I’d like to see the controlled study that indicates the percentage of people who don’t get extractions and end up with major issues before making a decision. </p>
<p>Obviously, if you have pain that’s a whole other story. Or if you have spent a lot of money on cosmetic dentistry and don’t want the efforts to be ruined by randomly erupting teeth.</p>