Wisdom Tooth Removal in Melbourne

Gorgeous Smiles is a Melbourne CBD dental clinic that assesses and removes wisdom teeth causing pain, infection, crowding or other problems. The first step is always a check and an x-ray, so a dentist can confirm whether a tooth actually needs to come out before anything is removed. If a wisdom tooth has been bothering you, book an appointment to have it looked at.

Most people first notice a wisdom tooth when it starts to cause trouble. A dull ache or throbbing pain at the back of the mouth is common, often worse when you chew or open your jaw wide. You might also see swelling around the gum, gums that look red or bleed when you brush, or a bad taste from a partly erupted tooth that traps food.

Other signs are easier to miss. A wisdom tooth pushing against the tooth in front can cause pressure or crowding. When a tooth only partly breaks through, the area is hard to clean, which can lead to infection, gum disease, decay or pressure on the neighbouring teeth. Impacted wisdom teeth, the ones that stay trapped under the gum or bone, can sit quietly for years before flaring up.

Treat these as signs to get your wisdom teeth checked rather than grounds to diagnose yourself. A dentist looks at the whole picture, including an x-ray, before deciding whether removal is right for your oral health.

Not all wisdom teeth need to come out. You may have heard that routinely removing healthy ones is no longer recommended, and that's true. If a wisdom tooth has erupted properly, sits in a useful position, meets the tooth above or below it and stays clean, there's often no reason to remove it. In that case a dentist will usually monitor it over time rather than extract it.

Removal becomes the better option when a tooth is impacted, repeatedly infected, causing pain, damaging the tooth in front, or sitting where you simply cannot clean it. A genuinely problematic tooth left in place carries its own risk of complications. The only way to know which applies to you is an assessment, where a dentist weighs the position of the tooth, your symptoms and an x-ray before recommending anything.

Everything starts with an appointment, not the procedure itself. A dentist examines the area and takes an x-ray, often a panoramic image called an OPG, to see where each wisdom tooth sits and how close it is to the nerve and nearby teeth. From there you talk through whether removal is recommended and what your case involves.

A fully erupted tooth is usually a simple extraction under local anaesthetic, which numbs the area being worked on. You stay awake throughout.. A tooth that is impacted or sitting below the gum is a surgical removal, which takes a little longer. For more complex cases, or for patients who feel very anxious, sedation or general anaesthetic may be options to discuss. Some complex cases may be referred to a specialist oral or maxillofacial surgeon.

Before you leave, you're given clear aftercare instructions, and a dentist talks you through each step as it happens so you know what to expect at each step.

Wisdom tooth removal at Gorgeous Smiles costs between $300-$700 per tooth. There's no single price for wisdom tooth removal, because the cost depends on the case rather than a flat fee. A simple extraction of one fully erupted tooth sits at the lower end. A surgical removal of an impacted tooth costs more, and so does removing several teeth in one visit or adding sedation. See our wisdom tooth removal cost page. The x-ray and imaging are factored in too, which is why an accurate figure comes after a dentist has looked at your teeth.

Our Melbourne CBD dental clinic at 121 Exhibition Street is within a:

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