Wisdom Teeth Removal - How Wise Is It?
Any tooth has the potential to become impacted - that is, emerge in some oddball direction that crowds other teeth. But the most famous culprits are third molars, the last-to-emerge wisdom teeth.
Not many mouths can accommodate an impacted wisdom tooth, let alone, teeth. They often wind up pressing against their neighbors, ultimately pressuring the rest of the teeth to disrupt their alignment.
That’s not a wise thing to let happen.
Wisdom teeth get your attention when they cause pain and swelling. Routine X-rays, beginning around age 12, alert your dentist to potential problems before a wisdom tooth starts getting disruptive. X-rays can let you know whether those mighty molars must go with oral surgery.
+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.
Why Do We Have Wisdom Teeth?
People often ask, "Why do we have wisdom teeth if there is no room in the jaws for them?" The answer has a lot to do with diet. In an article titled "Management of Asymptomatic Impacted Wisdom Teeth" in the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery, the author noted that the average, highly abrasive diet of Neolithic man wore down his teeth, which caused a reduction in molar size from front to back.
This size decrease from the abrasive food which man consumed allowed for the forward migration of the teeth and thus created adequate space for the eruption of a wisdom tooth or teeth. Less wear occurs in modern man because of the arrival of processed foods and the reduced amount of chewing necessary to consume food.
Combining this with a decrease in the loss of teeth and cavities as a result of modern dentistry requires people nowadays to address at least one impacted or partially impacted wisdom tooth through dental surgery.
+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.