The following is an excerpt from the library of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons: How Serious Is an Impacted Wisdom Tooth? If left in the mouth, impacted wisdom teeth may damage neighboring teeth, or become infected. Becausethe third molar area of the mouth is di cult to clean, it is a site that invites the bacteria that leads to gumdisease. Oral bacteria may travel from your mouth through the bloodstream, where it may lead to possiblesystemic infec