What exactly is the wisdom tooth?

Question

wisdom tooth

Answer 1

A really stupid name for the teeth that come in last in the very back of your mouth and hurt like hell!!

Answer 2

Hope this is a serious question, because I am going to give a serious answer. But just how serious can one be about wisdom teeth. But here goes.

Few people get by without cutting wisdom teeth. They are simply the last teeth to come through, usually in the late teens or early twenties. Each one is the last jaw tooth of each side of the mouth, both top and bottom, for a total of four.

Answer 3

A molar at the extreme back of the mouth, 4 altogether (2 top, 2 bottom). They don't come in until after all the other teeth, hence "wisdom". Most people end up having them removed because there often is not room for them.

Answer 4

You need to sit in on removal of impacted third molars on an older person, this is where your bone grows more dense around the molar as you get older ( that's why they tell you to get them out when your young) .
The extraction process can be long and drawn out, with remove the crown first, or split the tooth because the roots are to hard to remove in one piece. Then when you see the patient come back in with black eye's sick as a dog, where they had to be surgically removed.
Then their are some that seem to just roll right out, in and out in an hour.

Answer 5

Wisdom teeth are actually called third molars by dentists.

Look in the mirror. You have your two front teeth (central incisors). Now just look at one side (left or right, top or bottom; it doesn't matter which).

The tooth beside the central incisor is the lateral incisor.
After the lateral incisor, in order, are:
the canine ("eye tooth")
first premolar (first bicuspid)
second premolar (second bicuspid)
first molar ("6 year molar" - they come in at ~6 years old)
second molar ("12 year molar" - they come in at ~12 yrs old)
third molar ("wisdom tooth")

Third molars usually come in sometime between 17 & 21 years old. Not everyone has them. And even if you have them, they don't always come in.

See also:
http://www.ada.org/public/topics/tooth_eruption.asp

Answer 6

a pain in the butt...that I have had removed and I no longer have to be bothered by. They were important millions of years ago to help chew but evolution has made our jaws smaller because our diet is much softer. Now there is no room for them in the mouths of most people and they become impacted and really just cause alot of pain and even make some people's teeth crowded. Not fun! Mine pressed into the nerves in my lower jaw and caused frequent headaches.

Answer 7

It's you're 3rd molar that erupts at around 17 years of age. Also the last four, of the 32 teeth that develop in you're permanent dentition.

Answer 8

The last teeth to come in, the eighth tooth from the front center.

Answer 9

The farthest molars in the back of the mouth. They usually come in after puberty. Some people aren't born with them.

Answer 10

it is the source of all wisdom which allowed people to evolve beyond monkies into the intelligent beings they are. It contains all of the answers of the universe extractable only with the holy dentist drill.