Symptoms · wisdom tooth pain
Why does my wisdom tooth hurt?
Pain at the very back of the jaw is usually the gum over a partly through wisdom tooth becoming infected, or the tooth pressing where there is no room. Swelling, a bad taste or trouble opening your mouth means it should be seen. Call Y3 Smiles Dental in Broadmeadows on (03) 9022 4442.
How urgent is wisdom tooth pain?
Go to hospital or call 000
- Swelling spreading under your jaw, down your neck or towards your eye
- Trouble breathing or swallowing your own saliva
- You cannot open your mouth more than a finger or two, with fever and feeling unwell
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- Swelling of the gum, cheek or jaw on that side
- A bad taste, or pus coming from the gum at the back
- Fever, or feeling generally unwell with the pain
- Pain bad enough to stop you sleeping or eating
- The gum is so sore you cannot clean the area at all
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- Tenderness as a tooth moves through, with no swelling
- Occasional soreness that comes and goes over months
- Food packing behind the last tooth that clears with brushing
What usually causes it?
Wisdom teeth come through in the late teens or early twenties, into the smallest space in the mouth. Most pain back there comes from one of a few things:
- An infected gum flap. When a tooth is only partly through, a hood of gum sits over it. Food and bacteria get underneath, it cannot be cleaned out, and the gum swells and becomes painful. This is the common one, and it tends to recur.
- Pressure with nowhere to go. A tooth pushing against bone or against the tooth in front can ache dully for weeks.
- Decay. Wisdom teeth are hard to reach with a brush, and so is the back of the tooth in front of them. Decay in either can cause the same pain.
- Biting the gum. An upper wisdom tooth with nothing to meet can grow down and chew the gum below it.
- A jaw that is doing too much. Clenching and grinding make the whole area ache, and the wisdom tooth gets the blame.
What can you do tonight?
- Rinse with warm salty water several times, especially after eating. It shifts what is trapped under the gum better than anything you can buy.
- Clean the area gently, even though it is sore. A small brush angled at the back does more good than avoiding it.
- Take pain relief you normally use, following the packet. Ask a pharmacist if you take other medicines.
- Cold on the outside of the cheek if there is swelling.
- Eat on the other side and keep away from anything that packs in, like rice, seeds and nuts.
- Do not put aspirin on the gum and do not heat the outside of your face if there is swelling.
These buy you comfort until you are seen. They do not fix what is causing it. If the pain is keeping you awake, our page on tooth pain at night has more.
How do you know if it is getting worse?
Watch three things: swelling, opening and swallowing. Swelling that is spreading rather than sitting in one spot, a mouth that opens less today than yesterday, and pain on swallowing are the signs an infection is moving into the tissues around the jaw. Together with a fever, that is a hospital emergency department or 000, not a morning appointment.
Out of hours in Victoria you can also ring NURSE-ON-CALL on 1300 60 60 24 for advice while you decide.
How does a dentist treat it?
At Y3 Smiles Dental we look at the area, check how far you can open, and take an x-ray to see the angle of the tooth, its roots and the tooth in front. That is what separates a tooth worth keeping from one worth removing. What follows is usually one of:
- Cleaning under the gum flap and showing you how to keep it clean, when the tooth is nearly through and sitting straight.
- Treating the decay, in the wisdom tooth or in the tooth in front of it.
- Antibiotics, where infection is spreading, alongside treating the cause rather than instead of it.
- Removing the tooth, when the trouble keeps coming back or the tooth is damaging its neighbour.
If the pain is bad today, we would rather see you today: our emergency dentistry page explains how to get in. If removal turns out to be the answer, what happens on the day and the aftercare page tell you what you are agreeing to, and the cost page covers the fees.
If it is the thought of the appointment rather than the tooth that is stopping you, say so when you book. Being asleep for it can be arranged, on days set aside for it and organised in advance rather than decided on the day. Sedation and sleep dentistry explains how that works and who provides it.
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Other questions people ask
Is wisdom tooth pain normal when they come through?
Some tenderness as a tooth moves through the gum is common and settles. Pain with swelling, a bad taste or a sore throat on that side is an infection, not teething, and that does not settle on its own.
Will antibiotics fix it?
Antibiotics can calm a spreading infection, but they do not remove the flap of gum or the food that keeps getting under it, so the problem usually comes back. They are used alongside treating the cause, not instead of it.
Why does it hurt to swallow?
The infection sits close to the muscles and tissues at the back of the mouth, so swallowing and opening can both hurt. If swallowing or breathing is becoming difficult, that is a hospital matter, not a wait-and-see one.
Can I just keep cleaning it better?
Sometimes, yes. If the tooth is nearly through and straight, cleaning under the flap carefully with a small brush and salty rinses can be enough. Your dentist will tell you which situation you are in after looking at the x-ray.
My wisdom teeth do not hurt. Should I have them checked anyway?
They are looked at as part of a normal check-up, and an x-ray shows how they are sitting. No pain and a clear x-ray means nothing needs doing.