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Be on the alert for an infection. Check your front teeth for crookedness. Chronic pain and swelling is not normal.
Partially erupted (also called impacted) wisdom teeth, as well as ones that grow crooked, greatly increase the risk of an infection. Impacted and crooked wisdom teeth can create little pockets of space underneath the pericoronal flap where bacteria collect and flourish. Common signs of an infected wisdom tooth include: considerable gum swelling, severe pain, mild fever, swollen lymph nodes in your neck and along the edge of your jaw, pus around the inflamed tissue, bad breath and an unpleasant taste in your mouth. The type of pain associated with an infected wisdom tooth is often a constant dull ache combined with infrequent sharp and shooting pains. Pus is a grayish-white color and made from white blood cells of the immune system. These specialized cells rush to the infection site to kill bacteria, then they die and form pus. Bad breath can also be caused by trapped and rotting food underneath pericoronal flaps. Even if your wisdom teeth grow in crooked and become impacted within your jaw bone, they may not cause pain and other noticeable symptoms; however, with some time (even just a few weeks), they often start to crowd other teeth and push them out of alignment. This "domino effect" can eventually affect your teeth that are visible when you smile, making them twisted or crooked looking. If you think your front teeth are suddenly getting crooked or twisted, compare your current smile to older photographs. If your wisdom teeth are pushing others too far out of place, your dentist may recommend you have them removed. Once wisdom teeth are removed (extracted), other crooked teeth can slowly become realigned again naturally after a few weeks or months. Although some short-term tolerable pain and inflammation is normal with erupting wisdom teeth, chronic (long-term) pain and swelling is not. Wisdom teeth that fully grow in above the gum line don't usually cause much pain or swelling beyond a few weeks. Severe pain and inflammation that lasts for more than a few weeks is more common with impacted wisdom teeth that remain in the jaw bone. Impacted wisdom teeth that lead to severe and/or chronic symptoms should be removed. People with small jaws and mouths are much more likely to have impacted wisdom teeth that cause significant pain and swelling. Although impacted wisdom teeth might not directly cause symptoms, they can promote decay in other teeth or surrounding gum tissue that can lead to long-term pain. Deciding when to go to the dentist depends on your pain tolerance and ability to be patient. As a general rule, if the pain keeps you from getting sleep (without medication) for more than three to five days, then it's best to get your teeth checked out.