One of my wisdom teeth, which is not impacted and grew in fine, has a pretty large cavity on it. It’s been like that for a long while now. I’ve noticed recently when I floss between the wisdom tooth and the next tooth that there is a smell on the dental floss. Sometimes, I’ll get a taste similar to bad food if I flick my tongue over it, but not always. Despite flossing regularly there, the smell seems to persist. It’s not very strong, though.

Obviously the tooth needs to be worked on or extracted, but I was wondering how urgent it was. I start a new job in February and in a few months I’ll have dental insurance, which will cover a large portion of the procedure needed, but I don’t want to delay in case there’s an infection.

I don’t have any growths on my gums, my face isn’t swollen, and I don’t have any pain in the tooth. it’s not sensitive to hot, cold, or pressure either. But I imagine there could be issues that just aren’t visible. I’ve gone to the dentist a lot lately and though the taste / smell thing seems new (I might just not have noticed before), the dentist said the cavity itself wasn’t urgent after X-rays.

Thanks for the help in advance!