Wisdom teeth-myths and truth

I have seen fear on the faces of my patients when I say them to get their wisdom tooth extracted but believe me, it is not that risky as you imagine.
Let's have a look about the facts and myths related to wisdom teeth which can help reduce the fear of extraction.

wisdom teeth are the 3rd set of molars and last to erupt in oral cavity generally at the age of 18-24 years
Due to the probable age of eruption, it is named as wisdom teeth but there is no any correlation betweew wisdom and eruption of teeth.

In our ancestors, wisdom teeth were useful in chewing raw vegetables, meat, raw fruits etc
Due to more chewing forces, they had more developed jaw bone and facial muscles. But with the change in food habits and development of cooking techniques, forces of chewing are reduced which has reduced the jaw bone size over a period of time. So there has been a descrepancy between the jaw size and total space occupied by all teeth which causes wisdom teeth to be impacted as they are last to erupt.

reasons of wisdom teeth removal

• tooth decay
• development of cyst or tumor around the impacted tooth
• teeth causing crowding due to eruptive forces
• for orthodontic treatment purpose
• pain and discomfort during chewing

• causing resorption of adjuscent teeth

some myths about wisdom teeth

• **we all have 4 wisdom teeth **

Everyone has different number of erupted wisdom teeth.
We have 4 teeth in the jaw but not all teeth erupt in oral cavity in every person. Some have 1,2,3 or all 4 teeth erupted and even some haven't any of them erupted in the oral cavity.

• **we should get our wisdom teeth removed as early as possible **

This is not the fact.
Until and unless your teeth are causing any trouble to you, you can keep them in the oral cavity and there is no need to get them removed.

• you should get your wisdom teeth removed before orthodontic treatment

This may vary according to different cases.
Some may require and some not to get the teeth removed and that depends upon the available space in the oral cavity for movement of teeth during treatment.

• **wisdom teeth removal is dangerous **

Wisdom teeth removal is a type of surgery and all surgeries have some risks, but if the surgeon is skillful and experienced, there is no any risk in the surgery.

• **dentist can give you the exact time and way of eruption of the wisdom teeth **

Dentist can predict, but no one can give you the exact time and way of eruption of teeth.