How Wise Is It to Remove Your Wisdom Teeth?

“Anthropologists believe wisdom teeth, or the third set of molars, were the evolutionary answer to our ancestor’s early diet of coarse, rough food – like leaves, roots, nuts and meats – which required more chewing power and resulted in excessive wear of the teeth. The modern diet with its softer foods, along with marvels of modern technologies such as forks, spoons and knives, has made the need for wisdom teeth nonexistent. As a result, evolutionary biologists now classify wisdom teeth as vestigial organs, or body parts that have become functionless due to evolution.”(Cooper)
When a dentist suggests the removal of one’s wisdom teeth, sometimes people think it’s just a way for dentist to make extra cash, or don’t believe it’s necessary to go through oral surgery unless there is a problem. In very few cases is it best to just leave your wisdom teeth in. If they are completely impacted and aren’t causing any problems sometimes they can be left alone, they are covered by bone and tissue so they won’t decay. If they aren’t impinging on your other teeth there may not be a need to go through surgery. Also if you are young and going through orthodontic care, have had your second bicuspids removed, your mouth will accommodate the wisdom teeth and you have good oral hygiene then it may be ok to leave them as well. However, “there is a chance that the membrane surrounding an impacted wisdom tooth (known as the follicle) can also transform into a cyst or tumor. Although rare, the consequences of a cyst or tumor in the jaw can be devastating. Since cysts and tumors of the jaw bone tend to grow very slowly, symptoms usually do not occur until damage has occurred. These growths can cause permanent damage to adjacent teeth, bone, and nerves necessitating additional procedures or surgery other than removal of the wisdom tooth. (Wisdom teeth) Although this is not likely do you really want to take the chance by leaving them in?
How the wisdom tooth is growing into the mouth effects whether or not they need to be removed as well. If you have a wisdom tooth that is only partially sticking out of the tissue, then there is a pocket of tissue on top of the tooth collecting food and debris which will eventually decay the tooth and sometimes the tooth in front of it. Even the people that take very good care of their teeth will still have a hard time keeping from getting infection under this flap. If the tooth is completely out but growing in horizontally and locked under the second molar it creates a food trap and will collect food and debris and eventually cause decay, even for those who have good oral hygiene. Usually when the tooth is locked like this it will decay the second molar as well. The decayed part of the wisdom tooth that touches the molar in front of it will start eating away at the part of the molar that is touching it and the decay will continue to spread through the tooth until it is taken care of. This usually results in the wisdom tooth needing to be extracted and the second molar needing a root canal or extraction. If the tooth does grow in vertically you have less chance of getting decay between the teeth, however its still hard to keep clean because of how far back it is. Most people wont keep these teeth clean enough to keep them from decaying. If the tooth is decayed it is much harder to remove from the socket because it’s no longer a solid tooth, but instead a pile of mush that now needs to be dug out. This causes more damage to the surrounding tissue and usually makes the healing process harder for the patient. Unless the patient’s wisdom teeth grow in vertically, the patient has the room in the jaw to accommodate the tooth and the patient has very good oral hygiene, the wisdom tooth will usually end up causing problems.
Age also plays a role in the removal of wisdom teeth. The older you get the harder it is to remove a wisdom tooth. This is why many people get their wisdom teeth removed around the age of 17. Part of the reason is that there is a periodontal ligament surrounding the tooth. This ligament provides cushion around the tooth to help our teeth withstand the forces of biting and chewing. It also allows the tooth to pop out of the socket easier when extracted. “As we age the ligament thins out and the bone around it becomes brittle and calcified making it harder to pop out of the socket.” (Patel). Sometimes the tooth will even fuse with the bone causing a chunk of bone to come out along with the tooth when extracted. With the wisdom tooth already being the hardest tooth in the mouth to remove, age just makes it worse.
Many people experience pain from the pressure of the wisdom teeth impinging on the second molars. Sometimes the pain may go away for a little while but usually returns until the tooth is removed. Most of the time the jaw can not accommodate these teeth and the pressure from the teeth trying to come out can not only cause pain but also push your other teeth out of alignment. When the teeth are not aligned they are harder to clean and catch more food, therefore causing decay. Some people may argue that they are missing some molars and now have room for the teeth. That is true that they need the teeth for a chewing surface however the teeth cannot move together to fill the open space where the tooth was removed. Therefore the teeth will tip causing a triangular gap between the teeth which will become a food trap, and decay both of the teeth.
Some people may have concerns with the removal of wisdom teeth because of their health issues. For example, diabetes; a person with diabetes will heal slower, so they may be concerned with having any kind of surgical procedure. Wisdom teeth most often end up causing infection because they are hard to keep clean due to how far back they are and because they usually grow in with some problems. Infection can be very bad for someone with health issues such as diabetes, so in this case healing slowly because of an extraction is better than fighting off an infection. The benefits outweigh the risks. This is also true with people who have concerns regarding paralysis from the extraction. Usually general dentists will send patients out to an oral surgeon because of the liability that comes along with the removal of wisdom teeth. The roots of lower wisdom tooth can overlap or wrap around the nerve of the lower jaw causing a possibility of paralysis. (Wisdom teeth) However the risk of permanent paralysis of your face or tongue is less than 0.1% chance. (Gordon) Any time that you have a lower tooth numbed you are also taking the chance of permanent paralysis. Still most people will choose to get numbed when getting a filling or an extraction which shows that the concern for this isn’t that great .
Wisdom teeth removal can be a little more risky than other extractions because of where it is in the jaw and the anatomy of the jaw; however the risk of holding on to a wisdom tooth is much scarier. Dentists remove the tooth as early as possible because the tooth is not needed and there is so much complication that comes along with removing the wisdom tooth later in life. Most general dentist won’t even remove these teeth because of the liability that comes along with it. The sooner the tooth is removed, the easier it is for the patient and the dentist. Considering that there is no longer a need
for wisdom teeth, they are not worth the amount of trouble they can cause by keeping them, why put it aside to just have bigger problems later?