
Santa Monica Dentistry for Children
Santa Monica, CA 90404
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Impacted Teeth/Wisdom Teeth
Online Dental Education Library
Our team of professionals and staff believe that informed patients are better equipped to make decisions regarding their child’s health and wellbeing. For your personal use, we have created an extensive patient library covering an array of educational topics, which can be found on the side of each page. Browse through these diagnoses and treatments to learn more about topics of interest to you. Or, for a more comprehensive search of our entire website, enter your term(s) in the search bar provided.
As always, you can contact our office to answer any questions or concerns.

People normally have three permanent molars that develop in each quadrant of the mouth - upper, lower, right, and left. The first molars usually grow into the mouth at around six years of age. The second molars grow in at around age 12.
In many cases, wisdom teeth do not grow in properly, have a proper bite relationship, or have unhealthy gum tissue around them. Often, wisdom teeth improperly erupt or become impacted, requiring them to be extracted.
Our office must examine your child's mouth and X-rays to determine if the teeth are impacted or will not grow in properly. Impacted teeth may cause problems that can lead to infection, adjacent tooth resorption, gum disease, cysts, or tumors.
To avoid potential problems later in life, many dentists safely remove impacted wisdom teeth. Although they are like any other teeth, most people continue to have normal bites and well functioning sets of teeth in their absence.
Symptoms of impacted teeth
- Pain
- Infection in the mouth
- Facial swelling
- Swelling of the gum line in the back of the mouth