Speaking from personal experience I don't thinking pulling a wisdom tooth is necessary if it is not bothering you. Obviously it is necessary when there is a risk of infection, but if you have a dentist like I had that pressures you into seeing an oral surgeon to get a tooth extracted and then you wind up having to have a plastic surgeon perform surgery on you a year later, is it really worth it? Hell no!
That's what happened to me. A little over a year ago I had a cleaning appointment at my dentist and of course no cavities as usual, but my dentist asked me why I still had my bottom wisdom teeth. I explained that the oral surgeon that pulled the upper teeth said that the bottom should not be pulled because they are too close to the nerve. Well the dentist pressured me to go see an oral surgeon so I listened. I decided after having a consultation with the oral surgeon to go and have my left bottom tooth pulled. I scheduled the surgery for when I came back from Venice.
I came back from an amazing trip to Venice and then I had the left tooth pulled. No sedation, just novocaine. I had a lot more swelling than I thought I would and after two weeks after the surgery I still had some localized swelling that wasn't going away. I went back to the oral surgeon and he had not clue. Wow that's comforting, when your doctor doesn't know what is wrong! He opened the socket back up and when he did he applied extreme pressure to the outside of my cheek and in the socket. I was numb so I could only feel the pressure, no pain. I swelled up again and then the swelling finally went down, but I did notice a red dot on the outside of my cheek. I ignored it and figured it was scar tissue.
Then ten months later I came down with the stomach flu and the "dot" grew into a big ugly looking sore that felt like it was filled with liquid when I touched it. I thought for sure it would shrink once I got better, but no it didn't, it stayed big and every time I did hot yoga it got more red. I went to several doctors to try and remedy the situation. I went to two dermatologists, and ENT and then finally I found the right person, a very well know facial plastic surgeon. He did not know what it was and not doctor did, but he was able to excise it out of my cheek.
I now have a permanent scar on the outside of my face from getting a
tooth pulled. The bottom line is don't be cavalier about any part of
your health and don't let health care professionals pressure you into
getting a procedure done that may be unnecessary. The wisdom tooth never
bothered me, but the ugly red sore I got as a result made me self
conscious and having to have surgery made me anxiety ridden. Of course
this incident is freaky and I may be the only case in history to have
this happen and it's unfortunate, but listen to your gut.
