My dentist told me (4 years ago) that I would need my wisdom teeth pulled. I have yet to do so and now two of them have grown in crooked and have messed up my bite and teeth. So, why do we have wisdom teeth if we don't need them? Aren't our mouths designed to hold the amount of teeth we are supposed to have?
I have always wondered this....
2006-10-30 03:48:48 · 6 answers · asked by AutumnLilly 6 in Health ➔ Dental
Anthropologists theorize that back in the “cave days” our diet was much coarser than it is today. Also, there were not any dentists around to help us keep and maintain our teeth, and finally, there was not any fluoride in the water. So by the time we reached our late “cave teens”, we most likely had already lost several of our teeth due to trauma or decay. With the loss of adjacent teeth, the third molars now had space to erupt into our mouths, and therefore actually served a purpose – to replace lost teeth and help us chew better.
2006-10-30 03:59:06 · answer #1 · answered by James F 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Of course not! However, there are a fist-full of reasons why you sometimes do. There are those wisdom teeth that insist on coming in horizontally, for example, resulting in teeth that crowd towards the front of the mouth. This makes orthodonture much more difficult than it might otherwise be. I had to have all four wisdom teeth out for exactly this reason. This crowding obviously puts horizontal stress on the tooth (teeth....), and this stress can crack or break the tooth, and/or the filling inside. And, secondly, you have to decide just "who your dentist is"... meaning, is he or she the kind of person who could actually perform an unnecessary but billable procedure for their own benefit. I've seen that too. Get a second opinion is the rule, not the exception. Go to someone who gets recommended to you and see what they say, not telling them the first dentist's recommendation.
2016-03-28 01:42:07 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wisdom teeth are an obsolete body part like your appendix. The reason they are called wisdom teeth is because they would normally start coming in "late in life" . Due to poor medical care and living conditions most people would have lost one or more teeth at that point, at which time the wisdom tooth would take its place. In curent times with access to better living conditions, people typically will not lose many , if any, teeth by the time the wisdom teeth start to come in, leaving the potential for complications. Even if there are no complications with them coming in, you will usually experience overcrowding, contributing to crooked teeth and bite problems.
2006-10-30 04:10:29 · answer #3 · answered by DazeyChain 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The wisdom teeth are usually impacted, sometimes grow out sideways, and push on the molars in the back and cause people great pain when they are starting to come out so they like to pull them. Not only that, they start to push the rest of the teeth out of place. Most people do not have enough room in their jaws to have all 4 wisdom teeth come thru without shifting the other teeth.
2006-10-30 03:54:17 · answer #4 · answered by seriously shannon 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because of the very thing you described. I guess at one time our mouths could handle the wisdom teeth, but over the centuries, our mouths have become smaller. They have to come out, they can become impacted and really screw up all your teeth by pushing them forward.
2006-10-30 03:51:53 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
it's all about the money
2006-10-30 03:55:45 · answer #6 · answered by blackratsnake 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋