Peri- surrounding

Corona- crown

Itis- inflammation

So pericoronitis literally means there is inflammation surrounding the crown of a tooth. Or specifically, inflammation of the soft tissue surrounding the crown of a tooth, usually a wisdom tooth. How and why does this happen?

Teeth that don’t have enough space to erupt into the correct spot end up getting stuck in awkward positions. Again, let’s look at the classic example of wisdom teeth. 

They are at the back of the jaw, and therefore, usually do not have sufficient space in the jaw to erupt into a functional, healthy position. So invariably, the tooth will get stuck in a position that has it partially covered by gum tissue. 

Teeth are not supposed to be partially covered by gum tissue. It’s unhygienic. The gum tissue forms kind of a pocket that is not easily cleansible, and so food gets stuck there, and bacteria follows. Since you cannot clean there effectively with a toothbrush or floss, the bacteria flourishes there, and causes inflammation. This inflammation of the tissue makes the pocket deeper, and thus more bacteria accumulates. Over time, this becomes more and more painful. What makes it worse, Is that this is an area near the back of the jaw, where this swollen tissue becomes easily trapped between the teeth when you chew. This just exacerbates the situation. 

So how is this treated? 

Some people advocate trimming the swollen tissue. This procedure is called an operculectomy. This may seem like a logical thing to do, but if you understand why the tissue exists there in the first place, you will realize that it is not really going to solve the problem. Remember, the tissue exists there because the tooth is in the back of the jaw, without enough room. The tissue is going to be there because the jaw bone is there. If the tissue is trimmed, you may feel better for a short while, but it is very likely to grow back and result in the same problem eventually.

The true, definitive way to manage this situation is what you may not want to hear. It is simply to take out the tooth. A tooth in that position will never be functional. It will always be stuck in this useless, unhygienic position. The way to remedy this situation is to remove the tooth that doesn’t have any room. It is not providing you any benefit anyway.  Once the tooth it out, we remove the anatomical cause of the problem, and the inflammation and infection go away. 

Of course, we recommend having those wisdom teeth extracted way before they become symptomatic. The vast majority of people do not have sufficient space in their jaw for all of their wisdom teeth. So why wait for the symptoms to start? The procedure and recovery are much easier if you don’t start out with an infection. Call us or come in today for an evaluation.