A 27-year-old woman has described how an impacted wisdom tooth caused a cyst that silently dissolved part of her jawbone, leaving it so weak that biting a crusty baguette could have caused a fracture.
Anna Behrmann began grinding her teeth due to stress, experiencing mild jaw pain and a clicking sensation when chewing. After visiting her dentist, she was referred to consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon Katherine George at London Bridge Hospital, who diagnosed a minor joint dysfunction and recommended a soft diet, mouth guard and painkillers.
However, an X-ray later revealed a cyst the size of an apricot on the right side of her jaw, unrelated to her original symptoms. The cyst, caused by a healthy buried wisdom tooth, had been growing painlessly for about three years, dissolving the jawbone through a process known as resorption.
Miss George, who also works at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said the cyst was expanding like a balloon from the soft tissue around the buried tooth. Around 2 per cent of wisdom teeth are removed due to cyst formation.
Experts note that most people have impacted wisdom teeth due to smaller jaws from softer modern diets. While NICE guidance advises removing only problematic wisdom teeth, some surgeons argue this leads to larger issues later. Official figures show wisdom tooth extractions rose from 40,000 in 2003 to nearly 77,000 in 2010.
