Pericoronitis – Symptoms, treatment and complications

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Pericoronitis  

Pericoronitis is referred to the inflammation, infection or swelling of the gum around your wisdom tooth(molar). Pericoronitis is most common in the lower molar than in the upper molar.

Pericoronitis is the condition that happens when the wisdom tooth has partially erupted, where the soft tissue surrounding the partially erupted tooth crown overlaps and become inflamed.

This partial eruption leads the way for bacterial to deposit and to spread, thus causing inflammation. If left unnoticed, the infection may further spread and cause a severe toothache. In worse conditions, you may also suffer from fever, headache and pain in the jaw.

Pericoronitis is common in people of all age groups developing wisdom teeth, primarily in their twenties.

Types of Pericoronitis  

The symptoms make the difference between chronic Pericoronitis and acute Pericoronitis.

Chronic Pericoronitis is the condition where your operculum (the soft tissue that is over the molar) is prone to mind inflammation or infection, leading to less or no symptoms if untreated, can develop into acute Pericoronitis.

Acute Pericoronitis, the condition in which you will notice the following symptoms as severe pain, fever, and swelling occur, indicating the spread of infection, and you overlook it.

What are the Symptoms of Pericoronitis?

The symptoms of Pericoronitis are as follows

What is the cause of Pericoronitis?  

The leading cause is that the partially impacted wisdom tooth gives space to bacterial infection and inflammation. Other causes of Pericoronitis are as follows:

  • A wisdom tooth that hasn’t grown properly
  • Lack of proper oral hygiene
  • Extra gum tissues
  • Stress

How is Pericoronitis diagnosed?

You have to consult the doctor, by the visible symptoms and thorough clinical examination; it is accessible to diagnose Pericoronitis. Your doctor will provide suitable treatment after diagnosis.

An X-ray will do, it gives a clear picture of the position of your wisdom tooth, and it is easy to provide the correct treatment.

If the condition is worse, you might need to undergo surgery. Make sure that you undertake the surgery by a licensed dentist.

Treatment of Pericoronitis

Pericoronitis treatment is necessary to treat Pericoronitis. Considering your severity and symptoms of Pericoronitis, your dentist will decide the better treatments. Following are the three-way to treat pericoronitis:

If your Pericoronitis severity is in the starting stage, your dentist will resolve and manage the condition of inflammation.

In the second treatment, you have to undergo a minor oral surgery to treat Pericoronitis.

The third treatment is where you will be asked to remove the tooth.

Some home treatments can come in handy to relieve your pain. Besides using pain killers or relievers, Healthy and proper oral hygiene can prevent Pericoronitis. By rinsing your mouth with warm salt water, you can reduce your pain for the time being.

Complications of Pericoronitis

If the symptoms are untreated, the severity of Pericoronitis would be worse. The major complication would be the swelling of the operculum, the tissue surrounding the wisdom tooth. In the worst case condition, the infection would spread all over your mouth, leading the way to more complications. If the symptoms and pain are being unnoticed continually, you may suffer from life-threatening diseases.

Prevention of Pericoronitis

In any case, prevention is better than treatment; Pericoronitis is preventable if you follow proper oral hygiene. It is advisable to rinse your mount with mouth wash before bedtime and consider brushing twice a day.

Consider taking the consultation of a dentist twice a year. This would help maintain your oral health and help to keep your oral health on track. The constant oral health check also keeps you alarmed about the oral related problems.

Conclusion

Pericoronitis treatment is required if the severity of Pericoronitis is high in rate. Oral health is no less important; you are likely prone to many oral diseases. Automatically, this impacts the intake of food that offers strength to your body to function correctly.

It only takes simple measures to keep yourself hygienic to protect yourself and prevent serious health hazards.


DISCLAIMER: THIS BLOG/WEBSITE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE

The Information including but not limited to text, graphics, images and other material contained on this blog are intended for education and awareness only. No material on this blog is intended to be a substitute for professional medical help including diagnosis or treatment. It is always advisable to consult medical professional before relying on the content. Neither the Author nor Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. Ltd accepts any responsibility for any potential risk to any visitor/reader.

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