An impacted tooth is a tooth that is blocked or “stuck” and cannot erupt into its correct position on its own.
There are four types of impactions: partially-erupted, soft-tissue impacted, partial-bony impacted, and full-bony impacted.
The most common type of impaction we see in our office is partially-erupted, which is usually caused by overcrowding. The tooth may come through the gums, but it will get stuck because there’s no room for it. This type of impaction is treated by making space for the tooth to come in.
Soft tissue impaction is similar, the tooth comes through the jawbone, but doesn’t break through the gums. We treat these the same as the partially erupted teeth, and they will often break through the gums on their own once there’s room. Occasionally, a tooth will still not break through, in those cases we will refer you to a periodontist or oral surgeon for a soft tissue exposure – where they cut a small hole in the gums so the tooth can push through.
Bony impactions are more complicated. In a bony impaction, all or part of the tooth may have come through the jawbone, but they are not able to come through the gums. Depending on the angle of the tooth, it may erupt on its own if there is space. In cases where the tooth is at a strange angle, we may need to refer you to an oral surgeon to have an orthodontic exposure. In an orthodontic exposure, the surgeon will bond a bracket to the impacted tooth, and attach a chain. The chain gets connected to the brackets on either side of where the impacted tooth should be, and we remove links in the chain to slowly move the impacted tooth into the correct position.
