is it true that when you get them removed, your personality changes a bit (in a good way)?
2006-09-23 12:10:03 · 11 answers · asked by sueet2b 4 in Health ➔ Dental
I'm a dentist.
Any form of treatment, be it medical or surgical, carries with it advantages and disadvantages. Risks and benefits. When the risks and benefits are compared and the benefits are viewed as outweighing the risks, the treatment is carried out. Even when your doctor does something as simple as prescribing you antibiotics, he/she is making this calculation in his/her head.
Removing wisdom teeth is no different. Your doctor is fully aware that there are risks to removing wisdom teeth, and that there are benefits to removing them. Likewise, there are risks associated with leaving them, and benefits to leaving them.
The advantages of removing them? Well, you avoid the potential infections and tumors that can develop from impacted wisdom teeth. The disadvantages? They're few, but they do exist. Nerve damage is one possibility, although it is very remote.
Generally, for most young people, the potential benefits of removing wisdom teeth far outweigh the risks. So, if your doctor recommends getting them removed, then get them removed.
As far as personality changes, that's nonsense.
2006-09-23 13:15:10 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Why remove a wisdom tooth?
http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/wizdk.jpg shows one reason. This is what can happen by the time you are 40 or 50 if you leave a wisdom tooth in place when it is impacted. The red arrows on the x-ray show the grey area that has decayed due to the wisdom tooth being present under the gum. The tooth shown is the exact same tooth shown in the x-ray, but turned so you can see the cavity. Food and bacteria can get down there and you can't clean it out. Eventually, it makes a cavity in the tooth next to the wisdom tooth and makes it so you have to have BOTH teeth removed.
I never heard of personality changes, but I guess it IS a rite of passage. Hey, if you can get over this hurdle, you will view others a little differently. Whether you say, "It wasn't as bad as I expected," or, "God it was awful, but I MADE it through," you will still have had another of life's experiences and learned from it.
2006-09-23 12:34:40 · answer #2 · answered by Picture Taker 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Never heard about personality changing. The pros of having them removed is they crowd your established teeth, causing problems. If you let them go for to long, like my 31 year old son just did, he couldn't close his mouth. He just had the last ones removed, has some teeth that will need repairs from crowding. Not fun. Sometimes a wisdom tooth will grow in at an angle, into the gum. I had that. Not nice.
2006-09-23 12:14:49 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
My wisdom teeth were straight. If yours are not.. then you should remove them because they will end up hurting you later.
My wisdom teeth were straight but they were so far back in my mouth and so close to my cheak tissue that cavities just thrived there. I had 5 cavities in just the four wisdom teeth.
If you have a hard time reaching your wisdom teeth with your toothbrush, you may want to get them removed. Cavities are bad for all your teeth and your mouth health.
Good luck!
2006-09-23 12:22:00 · answer #4 · answered by Angela F 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mine never bothered me but I did have cavities in them. They also caused one of my teeth to be crooked. I didn't think I needed to get them out because they didn't bother me at all. Then my dentist said it would be very hard to fill the cavities because widom teeth are hard to get to. He also said the older you are when you have them removed the more complications you can have. The bone becomes more dense over time. I was so scared to have it done because I haven't had a filling or anything else in over 20 years but I had them pulled and I'm glad I got it over with. I wish I had done it before they caused my teeth to crowd. The dentist said the only way to fix that one crooked tooth is to get braces.
2006-09-23 13:18:48 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, I think you can get an infection and die in rare cases. If they are not bothering you and you have no pain you should be fine. My parents have thier wisdom teeth and never had no problems. I will probably get mine removed soon because they bother me sometimes.
2006-09-23 12:18:10 · answer #6 · answered by Valerena 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sadly, my personality DID change when I had my wisdom teeth removed. (Still don't know why they felt they had to remove them!)
It left the right side of my face frozen for years, and it made me look like somebody who'd had a stroke. I couldn't speak, chew or communicate like a human being for years...Because they'd damaged a nerve...
2006-09-23 13:34:45 · answer #7 · answered by JustineTime 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i've never heard that... but if you get them out you won't have to deal with crowding and the possibility of ruining the way yoru other teeth look. also if they grow in crooked it could cause a lot of pain. on the down side it hurts like heck to get them out espeicially if you get dry socket.
2006-09-23 12:17:53 · answer #8 · answered by dang 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I was always getting infections because food would get between the gum and wisdom tooth (wisdom tooth partially under the gum). I had them taken out, no more infections, and so much more room in my mouth!!!!!!!
2006-09-23 16:40:26 · answer #9 · answered by johnnylakis 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hmmm, i dont think it has any thing to do with personality..
advantages: NO idea why do i have them ^_^
Dis advantages: yaaa.. they are terrible.. i have to eat carefully otherwise end up with blood in my mouth..
in addition these tooth are hard to be brushed, so they accumulate food, and cause bad breath.
get them pulled out if you can..
2006-09-23 12:19:06 · answer #10 · answered by passion_harbour 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋