What to do if you have pericoronitis

Basically each of us has teeth, and teeth often suffer from some diseases. These diseases can seriously affect our lives. For example, we may feel abnormal pain when eating and talking, etc. Dental diseases include pericoronitis, which is a tooth inflammation. This disease should be treated in time. So what should we do with pericoronitis?

Pericoronitis refers to inflammation of the soft tissue surrounding the crown of the third molar (also known as wisdom tooth). It often occurs in young people aged 18 to 25 and is one of the common oral diseases. The main symptoms are swelling and pain in the soft tissue around the crown. If the inflammation affects the masticatory muscles, it can cause varying degrees of restricted mouth opening. If it affects the pharyngeal side, swallowing pain will occur, causing difficulties in chewing, eating and swallowing. Patients with severe illness may also have systemic symptoms such as general discomfort, headache, fever, and loss of appetite.

As human food becomes increasingly refined, the jawbone gradually degenerates and shrinks, resulting in an inconsistency between the length of the teeth and the jawbone. Wisdom teeth are the last teeth to erupt in the dentition, and usually erupt between the ages of 18 and 25. Due to insufficient eruption position, wisdom teeth may be incompletely erupted and become ectopic or impacted, with part of the crown exposed outside the gums and part covered by the gums. A narrow and deep blind pocket is formed between the gums and the tooth, which easily accumulates food debris and bacteria and is difficult to clean with normal brushing and rinsing. In addition, the crown gums are easily damaged by chewing food, forming ulcers. When the body's resistance decreases and the virulence of bacteria increases, it can cause inflammation of the tissues around the crown.

Pericoronitis of wisdom teeth often occurs in adolescents aged 18 to 25 years old, more commonly in the mandible, and can be divided into acute and chronic. Clinically, it often presents in the form of acute inflammation. In the early stages of acute inflammation, patients only feel slight swelling and discomfort in the affected area, and the pain worsens when chewing, swallowing, or opening their mouths. If the disease continues to progress, local spontaneous throbbing pain may occur and radiate to the head and face on the same side. When inflammation invades the masticatory muscles, it can cause varying degrees of mouth opening restriction. Examination shows that the gingival flaps are red, swollen and eroded, with obvious tenderness, and pus may overflow when the gingival pockets are pressed. Symptoms such as chills, fever, headache, and constipation may occur to varying degrees throughout the body. Chronic pericoronitis of wisdom teeth usually has no obvious clinical symptoms, only slight tenderness and discomfort in the affected area. When resistance decreases, acute attacks often occur. Further aggravation of acute pericoronitis may cause infection of adjacent tissues, organs or fascial spaces.