Adults can have as many as 32 teeth, and the last ones to come through are the wisdom teeth which are located right at the back of the mouth.  Typically wisdom teeth begin growing when you are between 17 and 25 years old, but they can sometimes start growing many years later or not actually appear at all.

Dentist checking tooth positioning

Wisdom teeth are no longer necessary with our modern diets, and indeed many people have small jaws that are more suited to 28 teeth, so in many cases there is simply not enough room for wisdom teeth to come through and this can cause problems when they start to grow, such as an impacted wisdom tooth, which may need to be extracted.  An impacted tooth is one that is forced to grow at an angle as there is no enough room for it to develop normally, and this can cause a lot of pain and the gum area around the tooth can become swollen and infected.  Impacted teeth are also difficult to clean and can collect food particles which encourage bacteria to breed, and this can cause a type of tooth decay and an infection known as pericoronitis. Special cleaning methods and even antibiotics can be used to treat pericoronitis, but this condition can return if the cause of the problem, the impacted tooth, is not removed so in most cases dentist s will x-ray the tooth to check its progress, and then remove it if there is not enough room for it to come through in a useful position.

For most people wisdom teeth will come through without too many problems, and there may just be a slight feeling of discomfort whilst they are growing through the gums, which will ease one the tooth is fully in position.