Why Do We (Still) Have Wisdom Teeth?
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
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Why do we have wisdom teeth? They're just going to come in wrong and cause problems. Wisdom teeth are a souvenir from our early human ancestors, and we actually understand less about them than you might think.
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people with big sharp teeth like mine can have wis teeth grow to cause lockjaw, all are cut/pulled out, but still have crowding issue since didn't pull any other teeth before braces
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One thing you missed is that micronutrient deficiencies create smaller jaws in the same adult with the same genetics. Total jaw size at the end of development determines how much space there is to add more teeth and whether or not they're gonna bind up and get impacted when the wisdom teeth come in. Chewing and adolescence also creates a larger jaw in the bone itself to accommodate more space for the teeth. It's well demonstrated that Western diets with micronutrient deficiencies. And lack of polyphenols create smaller jaws in the same person.
Got mine ripped out in Recruit Training. Inadequate anesthesia, only a day to recover, and digging food out of the poorly-stitched holes with the back of a safety pin in the middle of the night made it a *very* uncomfortable experience.
Word of advice: if anyone is planning on joining the military, get your wisdom teeth out beforehand.
Or go USAF if its an option. They wait until after the boot and give you an extra day.
Got mine done in the morning, back to work in the afternoon.... they don't stich the holes up... they put cotton wool and packing and you bite down til a clot covers the hole.
And don't eat food that's gonna get stuck in there and chew further forward?
USN had them out in boot. Don’t miss them.
Got mine removed in the Army after I got to my permanent post, and the dentist was the best one I had ever been to. Anything medical in Basic sucked.
Another word of advice.
STOP GETTING YOUR WISDOM TEETH REMOVED automatically.
They really tried to get mine removed, but I never had any problem with them.
Leave them alone if there's nothing wrong.
I am 63 and still have all four of my wisdom teeth. I have had many hygienists and dentists comment that they are tiny an "cute".
Similar. I'm in my 60's and still have three of mine.
I'm 56 and mine never even showed up 🤣
42 and have all 4 correctly aligned. Never had them called cute, but they are as big as the other molars for me. Does get me a comment every time I switch dentists though...
I wish I kept them, they didn’t pull em out till they were fully grown and they were fine, no weird angles, no funny business, I was chomping with those guys, but no they wanted my insurance money so they insisted on doing it
We all thought I’d need mine out due to having such a crowded and small mouth! But all four are aligned. I got mine when I was 14.
I was 15 when I got braces. Before they affixed them, they wanted to know if any wisdom teeth would come in and ruin the process. After my x-ray, the doc came back and asked if my parents had any. Wasn't sure about my dad, but I knew my mom's dentist pulled two of her bottom teeth expecting her wisdoms to grow in in a few years. They never did because she only had one, which was on the top and didn't cause any issues. After hearing this, he said, "Son, you hit the genetic jackpot. You don't have ANY wisdom teeth."
I'm so glad I never had to deal with that because I'm autistic and hypersensitive to mouth stuff. I chewed a hole into my lip after the novacaine from a filling took effect, after the procedure. Couldn't feel it, and it was an effective stim. Until my mouth filled with blood.
Same, don't have any, even though I would apparently have room for them.
@@shareika Same, plenty of room in my jaw but I only have one, not even sure where anymore because it still hasn't come through and I'm 42. My sister does have all of them and a small jaw, so she needed to have a few molars pulled at some point which isn't fun at all.
I dont have any either! But everyone else in my family does.
I also never had wisdom teeth, and now that I think about it, I don't think anyone in my family did either. Maybe my sister, who has a different dad. I have a small mouth, so I'm very grateful to not have had this problem.
Same, I don't have any and neither did my parents.
One of my molars fell out and my wisdom tooth finally has the chance to actually do its job. And even then, it requires years of help to actually move into the right spot. And my other wisdom teeth are literally horizontal. It is impressive how bad they are at being useful teeth.
I was in my late 20s and wondering why my wisdom teeth hadnt come through yet
One-day I went to dentist for a back tooth to be taken out and the dentist took an x-ray of my mouth and was like "this won't hurt as much as when you got your wisdom teeth out" and when I said I'd never had them out he was confused and said I don't have any in the x-ray.
Turns out I was just born without wisdom teeth
Always just assumed everyone had them
I don't have any either! My orthodontist checked with an x-ray before putting my braces on. I guess my mom only had one and my dad had two. I lucked out and got the lesser option from both of them.
Me too, my hygenist laughed at me when I asked when mine were coming in 😂
Same! No wisdom teeth gang!!
I don’t have them, either.
Only got my top two wisdom teeth 😁🤷
Navy yanked all 4 of mine at once. Got 1 day to recover, then I had to go back to work looking all pitiful
USMC said I could keep mine, weirdly enough
that’s insanely cruel and (obviously) way too short to properly recover imo. I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed at the same time and it took a week for me to recover enough and to be able to eat enough to focus on any work. It’s awful how inhumanely militaries treat their own people even…
Ouch! I took a half day to recover (once for left hand side and once for right); and still regretted my life choices. And I had a highly sedentary job at the time!
Screw the "armed forces"
Damn I had 1 out and I was feeling 100% after a good nights rest but definitely no eating till the 3rd day and that was pushing it
The Marine Corps decided to take mine out preemptively. Got the afternoon off. PT the next morning was a 3 mile battalion run. 40 years later, I can still feel the hollow dull thud every time my feet hit the ground.
Sounds about right lol. Rah!
Thank you for your service. Horah!
yeah, mine too. they had navy medical first timer trainees take mine out. it was a harrowing experience
@noahcrow1897 Semper Fi, eh Mac?
Sounds more like human abuse than anything else
I've always been SOOOOO grateful to have ALL FOUR of my WT grow at the same time (around age 19-20) but straight up instead of causing a mess :D I was so scared to have to remove them. But they just popped up and didn't trigger any issue. Whew !!
At 59, mine are also still going strong. Once you're good, you're probably good :-)
I also feel blessed! Was dreading the day I might have to get them removed but so far so good
Same here, been very grateful that they never caused me issues.
too few of us 'moderns' die from wisdom teeth complications for there to be a evolutionary selection pressure. So we are stuck with them.
Also why all of our eyes suck. 70% of Americans need glasses. Edit: changed "wear" to "need" as I believe reading glasses are included in that stat, and so we don't always see folks with them on their face.
@@CalvinMills-e6u I believe there was a study where elementary-aged kids were split into two groups, and the group that got more time in sunlight had less need for glasses. Apologies for not knowing the study name or authors offhand. Anyway, seems there are environmental factors at play as well. Silly civilization and its indoor life.
@@CalvinMills-e6u My eyes used to suck until I got a job outside, pretty much returned to 20/20. I'm still
@MusicalXena How much is "more" sunlight? As a Gen Xer, I was outside in Phoenix all year around, swimming in a pool or running track in the spring. To get more su light, I'd have had to be under the Ozone hole in Australia. I have worn glasses since 3rd grade. Everyone in my family wears glasses, meaning pre tv. I climb mountains too, so the intensity of the sun doesn't let up in my life. Show the study, here on a science show.
@@Neenerella333 I'm not sure if RUclips will block direct links, so Google "sunlight exposure reduces myopia in children" and you'll get some relevant results.
Not claiming that sunlight cures or prevents 100 percent of eyesight issues. Some people would have worse eyesight regardless of their environment. That fun mix of environmental and genetic factors, ya know?
Mine all finally burst through my gums in my late 30's. They shoved my other teeth forward enough that the root of one of my other molars started impinging on a major facial nerve and giving me a permanent migraine. When we eventually figured this out and had them all removed. Instant relief! I'm the only person I know who had *less* pain after oral surgery.
i must be a throwback. I have all my wisdom teeth, and they came in nicely with no issues. I'm tall and have a larger jaw which probably makes sense. I have Norwegian ancestors as well. I've always wondered about the genetics of wisdom teeth. Both of my children had 2 removed.
I'm from Iberian descent so I'm short AF. Still got em all with no issue either x) yet my sister had to have them removed because they were about to come out all sideways and mess up years of previous orthodontics ^^ crazy how that works.
Norwegian but mine are all kinda impacted in my jaw (although causing no issues at the moment). So I doubt that has any bearing
Same here. Still have all of them after 59 years; they are more or less normal sized and they fit fine in my jaw. Tall Dutchie with fairly large jaw.
the impaction (=problems with eruption) is caused by a lack of chewing or insufficient breast-feeding, read the book Jaws - the hidden epidemic.
Half-Norwegian here. Large jaw and skull, and zero problems with 3 wisdom teeth. Removed the 4th one only because it was sideways and was annoying me brushing up against the inside of my cheek. Not impacted, but the dentist said it could cause problems down the road. He administered nitrous oxide and all I remember was him and his assistant talking about their children's school trip while they each pushed on the crooked tooth from different directions with some kind of metal stud, slowly weakening its grip until it popped out. They kept asking me questions like "How do you feel?" and I responded uheayuahauooaah. The nitrous turned my mind into mush. Almost zero pain afterwards, just felt weird having a gaping hole for a few weeks. I was excited to lend support to your ethnic ancestry hypothesis but to throw cold water on the fire, my sister, also half-Norwegian, had many problems with her wisdom teeth. I think it's luck of the draw who has problems and who doesn't. I remember picking her up from the dentist many years ago and she cried all the way home. She was almost delirious.
I actually have two extra teeth. My dentist told me it's a one in a million thing.
I had a fifth! Only 1 of 5 came in and eventually they all had to go though.
So you have 6 wisdom teeth?
Same with me. I have six canines
So did I. Had I only had four, I would've had room. But I had two extra in my lower jaw so they all had to come out.
Same, and my wisdom teeth are also growing in sideways and impacting my other teeth making them overlap, I can't wait till I can get them out even though It will suck.
I had surgery to remove all four and it was brutal. It was major surgery and took ages to heal due to multiple infections... So jealous of everyone who had a typical experience.
None of my wisdom teeth came in, and I'm 33. At 31, I was having massive jaw pain under my left eye. Went to the doctor, they booked a dentist for me, turned out my top left wisdom tooth had started rotting and the dentist booked an emergency wisdom tooth removal for a week later. Thankfully, I was only on jell-o for a day, soft food for 2 more days, then I was good to go. For all my family's medical issues on both sides, both sides heal strangely fast.
As one of the very few people who has had miraculously zero problems with my wisdom teeth growing out, I *_STILL_* have issues with them on a frequent basis anyway, like when I wanna extend my jaw to the sides and they end up grinding upon the very back of it.
Before dentistry, humans probably already have significant tooth decay by 25yo. I imagine the back teeth have the most decay since they are the hardest to clean. Thus, we may have an extra back set of teeth that come in later when our primary rear molars ultimately begin rotting out. One man's hypothesis...
This is a good hypothesis. I concur with this assessment
This is exactly what my theory is too.
This is basically what we tell our patients as a strong theory, along with explaining other theories
I think the lack of sugar in their diets would have helped perverse them a bit longer
History backs this up too, the current working theory is that our ancestors had tooth decay and damage from the (relatively) tough and hardy vegetables we ate, and from biting through bones to get to the marrow, that they either lost a molar or had the molar removed, and the wisdom teeth moved in to take the lost tooth's place
Grew up next to a whole family full of folks that had TWO sets of em, which was wild.
I have two extra, no issues after pulling the first 4.
Only a week with ice cream?
I couldn't get registered with a dentist (it's been a whole thing here in U.K for years, unless paying out of pocket) for roughly a year from when all 4 of mine started coming through, often only able to consume extremely soft or liquefied food and ended up with crooked teeth.
That, was a bad year!
When I was 19, my wisdom teeth literally tried to kill me, contributing to permanent nerve damage in my maxillofacial musculature and leaving massive gaps in my skull and jaw after their removal. The pain prior to their removal was causing me to have severe migraines and blackouts.
I'm happy mine grew in fine and I've never had any problem, but my little brother on the other
I had a 1 hour drive home in rural 100F Alabama while I threw up blood into a plastic bag. That was fun.
I'm one of the lucky few that had their wisdom teeth grow in with no issues.
It was a big surprise when I moved and got a new dentist.
Who needs an excuse to lay on the couch and eat ice cream; I'm an adult! Technically... lol
I'm over 40 and have never had my wisdom teeth. None, not even extracted. My mouth is already tiny for different reasons, so I'm glad to know I have another small bonus in not having had my wisdom teeth.
Same on the over 40, the small mouth and lack of wisdom teeth counts. Dentists and dental hygienists never believe me when I tell them I never had, and never had extractions. On the flip side, my brother had all 4 pulled in his teens. They gave him a little plastic syringe for spraying mouthwash at the holes. He looked like a chipmunk stuffed its cheeks full of nuts for over a week.
I've known of someone not getting their wisdom teeth till their 60's
@@BionicMilkaholic on thy bright side all my xrays show they aren't present, so unless I start growing them now I think I'm in the clear lol
I was lucky enough to be born without any of the 4 wisdom teeth. 🙌
You are the future of human evolution.
Same for me
Nice! I was looking for someone with this comment! Welcome to the evolution club! 😂
I used to tell my friends this when I was in uni and I had so many friends try to tell me that I was wrong. That "everyone has wisdom teeth, yours probably haven't grown yet".
And I'm like no, no your wisdom teeth start showing up on x-rays during childhood/teenager years and keep growing to adulthood. And yes you can be born without wisdom teeth ever developing lol.
I love it when people try to correct you when they have absolutely no idea themselves. 😂😆
Although I unfortunately did have an impacted adult tooth, one of the ones near the two front teeth.
Soooo, I'm an example of both things here! No wisdom teeth & an impacted tooth that wasn't a wisdom tooth! lol
...
For those interested: The dentist had to remove the baby tooth and pull that one through with braces. But because my jaw was small and overcrowded, they pulled out extra teeth to make room. Two on top, two on bottom.
I think they should have only removed one each as it ended up causing too much of a gap and my top teeth moved around a lot later on through adulthood. Soooo I had to get braces again at 34 -_-
so definitely get the permanent retainers on the back of your teeth if you have missing teeth or gaps coz it can move back!!
I had a friend who never had a single cavity and had all his wisdom teeth til the day he died. I on the other hand had cavities from early in life, never had a tooth that came in in-line, had braces in high school, and had all 4 wisdom teeth surgically removed in my 20's. At almost 60, I have almost no teeth left.
My jaw was so small that I didn't have room for all my regular molars. I had to have 2 removed on the bottom, and my upper jaw was expanded to make room for them (one is still sticking out to the side). When my wisdom teeth started coming in, it was a given that all 4 had to come out.
I never grew any and can always find time to sit on the couch and eat ice cream. No excuses needed.
I only had one wisdom tooth come in at all, and when it was time to take it out the dentist realized it was loose enough he could just reach in there and pull it out with his fingers. My recovery time was extremely fast.
My brother and I(twins) both no issues with ours. Guess we were fortunate.
My twin sister had 4, but I had 5. Weird
Cool video, as always! Interesting: the host says "lay on the couch" twice, but the captions say "miss school".
I didn't have wisdom teeth, but sitting on the couch eating ice cream for a week makes me wish I did!
same!
I don't have any either. My orthodontist checked before putting braces on and was visibly jealous when he told me.
Nah it sucks not being able to eat something that isn't solid for a week, hated it when I had to pull out my wisdom/judgement teeth
you can still sit on the couch and eat ice cream 😊
Nah, it’s not as dreamy as you probably think it is. I had to get all four of mine pulled out and not being able to eat any solid food for a week and constantly having jaw pain SUCKED
I got mine removed. Years of fear of the pain to have all 4(impacted like they are fully horizontal) removed just for the dentist to do an amazing job and have zero pain even for the first couple of hours after anesthesia wore off. Barely used pain killers. I’m happy bc mine got so bad to the point they made pockets next to them that food got really stuck.
I’m in my 40s and recently had a tiny little wisdom tooth irrupt even though I had my wisdom teeth removed in my 20s. It’s the size of a baby tooth and my dentist were so enamored.
I literally just got mine removed on Monday
give me ur percs
Sci-show is always listening 😂
The removal process is so brute force, I remember slightly waking up as they were pulling on my head and the pliers
@@samueljaworski5737 damn that's crazy. Mine are healing nicely, I barely have any pain and especially with the pain meds there's no discomfort whatsoever. They did a really good job. Also they let me keep mine, is that normal?
I had to get mine removed when I was 16. The pain was so bad I couldn't sleep at night and it started affecting my grades.
Only three out of four grew out for me, and none gave me any problems.
I had all 4 wisdom teeth grow in straight. Even have a little space behind the wisdom teeth.
Mine came upright too but there was little space for them, I felt pressure on my teeth. They all came out easly, roots were straight! 😊
All my wisdom teeth came in good, just need to work on keeping them and my gums healthy :D
I used to wonder whether or not I got wisdom teeth because mine erupted so smoothly in contrast to all the horror stories I've heard. I just felt something sharp spiky at the end of my lower gums one day, then the flesh flapped open a short time later--which I thought at the time was purely because I kept poking it with my tongue. I initially thought it was broken jawbone. I don't think I ever even noticed my upper ones erupt. I don't think my jawline is notable, but I do have a gigantic head which might've helped. My lower central incisors are a little misaligned, and one of my premolars is practically a tusk--but little issue beyond that.
Sometimes, I still count my teeth while comparing them to reference visuals online. Just to be sure.
Mine also grew without trouble! Just felt like there was too many teeth in my mouth, they were pressing against each other.. Got all 4 removed very easly, the roots were straight! 😊
I had 2 removed. But the remaining 2 also came in without issues; they were very slow to descend tho which might have contributed to not giving much issues.
The only issue I had with them was it being a struggle to properly brush them when they were just teeny dots poking through since they are so far back in my mouth it would make me gag.
I got two of my wisdom teeth removed and it was a hell. The dentist had to apply a lot of anesthesia, and three weeks after the procedure, my lips are still numb. The pain was so intense that I literally cried for days. And the fact that I'm diabetic made it worse, because the healing process is more complicated.
I had a friend who had to have an emergency wisdom tooth extraction. The bottom one caused her acute pain one day. I had to leave my job, pick her up and take her to a dentist her coworkers found. He did one of those around the head xrays and, after looking at them, sent us down the hall to talk to the dental surgeon. This was about 11 a.m. After looking at the xrays and taking his own, he told us to go and come back at 2. She was to not eat, not drink and not talk too much. Turned out the bottom one had its roots wrapped around a facial nerve there. And while he had her knocked out, he took the top one too because, he said, it was coming in all wrong and was just another surgery away if he didn't.
That's why I don't have my bottom ones out. The dentist who was supposed to said they were entangled enough in my facial nerve that I have about a 50/50 chance of paralysis if I get them out.
@@zekenelsons2069 it was just the one side in her case. I had mine out before that, while I think my folks could still have me on their insurance.
If any comment ever needed a TLDR, it's this one. No one wants to read your book buddy!
@@irrelevant2235 and that is always someone's choice. If you didn't want to read it, don't hit the 'Read more'
Reid again, yay! He's my favourite host/presenter because his voice is just so nice. I hope to see him in more videos. 😍
Mine came through in my early 40s. One was able to be removed in the chair, where the other 3 were severely impacted and had to be removed under general anesthesia. Apparently the operation was harder took longer. Ended up with 2 weeks off work, with the first week mainly eating cold soft foods like icecream, yogurt, moose, erc.
I had a dentist, 20 years ago, tell me that im nore "evolved" because i had no wisdom teeth.
My wisdom teeth are like: "Why are we here...just to suffer?"
Tried to get them removed, but got told that I might need them when I'm older to bridge other teeth that may fall.
I can't stand them, I'm always biting my cheek inevitably when I eat something I really enjoy, they make me bleed.
Sounds odd. You asked for a second opinion on that?
If you're constantly biting yourself and even to the point of bleeding, that definitely sounds like a legitimate reason to get them removed. I agree with jarls' reply above, you should get a second opinion.
Definitely recommend a second opinion. I've never heard a dentist say it's good to keep them in, unless they are growing normally, are not pressing against other teeth or they came through fine.
If they are causing issues go see another dentist pronto. I've had friends who put off getting their wisdom teeth out and it ended up causing sinus issues or horrible tooth aches later on. And these were people that were told it could eventually cause problems or had a few tiny issues in the beginning.
It can get really bad so please please please go see another dentist for a second opinion. If you are unsure who to see, maybe you can ask your friends and see if they recommend their dentist.
Good luck!! ❤
I had a few dentists do that same excuse with me until I finally got a dentist who listened to me and yanked them. It made a world of difference and my intense canker sores stopped coming in
I had all 4 impacted and needed surgery. I was able to handle the pain of both surgery and recovery. The one thing that still made me uncomfortable was the smell of the drill cutting into my wisdom tooth.
In Dutch we call them "verstandskiezen". That can be translated literally into English as wisdom teeth (verstand = wisdom, kiezen = teeth although the word specifically refers to the molars), but you can also use a different emphasis and pronounce it "VERstandskiezen", in which case it would refer to molars in the back of the mouth, which is also correct. Since I'm missing 3 out of 4 of them and the 4th one has never emerged from my jaw, I make it a point to use the second pronunciation.
I had mine removed and I’m still trying to get used to not feeling them with my tongue. It’s been 3 years. 0/10 recovery. I couldn’t enjoy my popcorn when I saw “No Way Home.” I also caught COVID that same week AND had to sit through an interview with a swollen face and suppressed coughs. lol. I was going through it.
I have all my wisdom teeth left, the upper once are a bit slanted but anyhow a dentist got surprised i still had all left.
All 3 of mine grew in with no issues. I never had the 4th but had plenty of room for it.
When my wisdom teeth started coming out I purposly grinded my teeth to rip up my gums to stop the swelling, now they just hang semi out and one of my mollars is rotated.
I have them all and still have a bit of space left
only just started the video but, i was born with bad molars, they had to be pulled when i was 10 years old and the wisdom took the place of the bad molars and since then i had no teeth problems
my daughter had ZERO wisdom teeth, per her dentist. i have an impacted one and i'm so glad she won't have to deal with that.
Don’t ignore your dentist when they say they need to come out! Was told to get them out at 20, got them out at 29 and the headaches from teeth not having room are not joke
I only ever got 1 wisdom tooth, but I wasn't expected to have any. My teenager was also expected to not get any, but ended up getting two, which needed to be pulled.
Mine didn't erupt fully. Had 'em removed. Not that there's even room enough for the teeth I have!
I don't have any Wisdom teeth and XRays have shown I never will! 24 and will thankfully never have to deal with this pain, and I am so thankful for that
When I got mine pulled (just the lower ones) I got Propofol as a narcotic. It was so good that I immediately, before oassing out, said "oh I get it, Michael"
I was a big fan
I only ever grew wisdom teeth in my upper jaw, not the lower; neither of them were impacted (though one of them was starting to come out tilted to the side, unless that's what "impacted" means), and my dentist removed them as a precaution so they couldn't cause me problems in the future. Because they weren't impacted (but see above) and there wasn't a lot of digging or surgical stuff involved (they were both pretty much exposed to open air, not buried down inside the jaws/gums), there wasn't too much post-procedure pain (and I didn't have to worry about my ability to eat being impacted by their removal because they weren't removed at the same time, but a few months apart).
Lots of horror stories here. I'll add mine to the mix.
I broke a wisdom tooth on a stealthy chicken bone. For a while, it didn't cause any problems but eventually I decided discretion was the better part of valour and went to the dentist. An X-ray showed that two were impacted already.
So an appointment with a specialist later... The specialist pulled out those teeth very quickly - almost frighteningly so. After returning home, I was in a good deal of pain but there was little to be done. I was supposed to recover over the weekend but a nasal infection set in. I was off sick from work for a full week.
Still, it removed a lot of fear of dentistry in me that many of my generation have. Routine work is nothing compared to the trouble those wisdom teeth caused.
Im still dealing with the tooth decay caused by my wisdom teeth... my 2nd molar on my top right side had to be removed entirely as well
I have a tooth missing (just never grew) so I was kinda looking forward to a wisdom tooth on that side to even things out… to date it’s the only wisdom tooth that has grown out, and it decided to grow into my cheek muscle 😢 was brutal!
I had 4 wisdom teeth removed at 30 because I ignored it. 3 out of the 4 was not that bad as they were impacted but straight. The 4th one was impacted and at a 45 degree angle. That one took forever to stop hurting after removal but it had to be done. I also needed a bone graph due to having them so long.
It would have been interesting for you to cover the latest advances in preventing the buds of wisdom teeth from ever developing, thus avoiding the likely need for wisdom tooth extraction.
I just had my last Wisdom Tooth extracted a couple months ago and there was no laying on the couch, didn’t even take a single day off work, and certainly no Ice Cream. Eating anything that cold sounds like an insane and painful idea.
I had extra teeth removed from my mouth when I was in high school. It was crowding and creating an overbite. I had my wisdom teeth out when I was in my twenties
I never developed any wisdom teeth. So I never had to deal with their problems. I remember my dentist saying that it was unusual to have someone without even one develop!
I had only a small remnant of one on my top left. It became impacted and, despite being the size of a pea, caused some significant pain.
I had to get mine all four removed because they never stopped growing and started hindering chewing got removed one by one as they started emerging.
My X-rays always showed I didn’t have wisdom teeth or twelve year molars…until I was 25! A single wisdom tooth mysteriously showed up way late in life. It took another 5 years to break through the gums. I’m 43, and it’s still in my mouth, not causing problems.
Glad to know it's not totally uncommon to be missing wisdom teeth. I had braces when I was younger and was worried my wisdom teeth would mess up all that work. Turned out, each of my parents were missing two and I never developed any. My brother wasn't so lucky, he had all four.
Tl:Dr: family history of long and complicated tooth roots led to months of pain.
I lost 6 months worth of work because of one of my wisdom teeth. The multiple roots were bent at a right angle along my nerve in my jaw. A friend paid for the dental surgery here in Australia because it wasn't covered by the community dental clinic for free like the rest of my dental care.
When both bottom teeth were removed, I got dry socket in the one that wasn't originally a problem, twice. I still have nerve damage over 3 years later, with half of my bottom lip as still numb (but it is recovering)
The top wisdom teeth became an issue when I was pregnant and due to family history, I knew they would have multiple roots and would be twisted. 3 dentists refused because they couldn't xray while I was pregnant. The 4th was very careful and marveled at the triple, twisted root that had wrapped around my nerve. He called every day for a week to check on me.
my grandmother always fed me tough, chewy food when I was a baby, and took credit for my general lack of dental issues in my life
I got two, both on the right side. The top is dead strait and fits well, the bottom is rotated to the right.
I'm in my 50s and I'm still not 'wise' - never had my wisdom teeth emerge - got 2 gummy spaces at the back of my top teeth. I remember when my older sister had hers out - mine, just never did anything.
I had two removed on different occasions with local anesthesia and I was back to work the next day.... I think I might have even freaked out the oral surgeon by requesting they take it out that day with just local anesthesia.
Scared of getting my wisdoms out supposedly I need to take em out but they don't hurt me. Surprised to be this early to a video
Do get a second opinion. I've seen too many dentists default to saying work is required when it's actually optional... If they aren't impacted then I think the only reason to get em out would be cosmetic as they can put pressure and move around your other teeth a bit. But if they are showing signs of being impacted you probably won't feel any discomfort until it's very far along
If you're in America, Wisdom Teeth are $$$$. Any excuse to make profit from their removal is a welcome excuse. They'll tell you to "trust your dentist" and "just to be safe" and "you'll regret it later," but what you'll really regret is being complicit in a society that eliminates a traditional diet and leads to weak underdeveloped jaws and places profit over people and everything else. Our entire society is based on, "here, let me create this expensive problem for you."
I'm 44 and still have all 4 of my wisdom teeth and all for are angled slightly out. Every dentist told me I'd need to remove them until I was about 40 and they now say they're fine. They just weren't a problem to me, so why fix it?
At least get a second opinion.
Half my high school had the wisdom tooth extraction surgery around the same time. The teachers were amused at who handled pain in interesting ways. I would often turn into a growling little ball around lunchtime. To this day, I cannot stand mushy noodles or rice or American pudding.
Got all mine, and they all fit and came in correctly!
As a teenager, I got 4 premolars removed in preparation for braces I eventually never got.
However, that extra space made it so my wisdom teeth grew pretty nicely. I got Pericoronitis once or twice, but that's it.
I'm almost 48 and my dentist recommends I keep mine. I've never had an issue, never even felt them come in that I'm aware of! My brothers and my childrens all grew in impacted :(
I was lucky to only have the two top wisdom teeth and they weren't causing any pain. However, I still decided to have them removed since it was free. I asked if I got numbed, instead of being knocked out, if I'd be able to drive myself home and I could. It was one of the strangest feelings to be able to hear the saw and feel my whole head being pulled down, but not being able to feel anything inside my mouth. No pain or the texture of the gloves and tools being used. There was a good week where I had to be careful of how I ate, but that didn't change what I ate. I still enjoyed my favorite food, I just had to eat slower and smaller bites to avoid damaging the wounded area of my mouth or cause infection. Unfortunately, not every has as pleasant an experience as I did.
I had one of my second molars extracted as a kid and later my orthodontist moved the wisdom tooth in it's place
Since dental insurance covers a certain amount per year, I had 2 pulled in December and the other 2 in January. Ended up saving a few hundred. They asked if I wanted top or bottom first. I said let's do right side then left side. This way, I always had one side I could chew on. I ate hard shell tacos the next day. One of the smartest decisions I've made.
When I was 14 I was having some dental work done and the dentist showed me an x-ray where my wisdom teeth were sitting perpendicular to the rest of my teeth and pointing forward. He told my parents they should get removed right away, my parents said they'd hold off until there was a problem. Fast forward 14 years and I'm in the Army getting some dental work and the Dentist came to me all concerned about my wisdom teeth and how they needed to come out, he showed me the x-ray and I laughed because my wisdom teeth were in exactly the same place they were 14 years earlier, he was astonished. I'm 51 now and I've never had an issue with them still. My takeaway from this? Don't panic and go through the pain of getting them removed if you don't have to, but if they're bothering you get them all out.
My husband was like that until one decided in his mid 30s it wanted to go places and see things and started jamming into his molar. He was in quite a bit of pain and got that one and another one removed. The other two are pointing down at least and if they decide they want to go places and see things, they shouldn't have an issue.
I still have my wisdom teeth.
I lost one top and one bottom molar early (injury) and we just adjusted the whole set to let the wisdom teeth take their places over a year.
Handy to have spares!
I had mine all cut out from the inside at once in high school. My jaw didn't have room for all the normal teeth, and I had to have one of the front ones pulled. I have a tiny jaw.
My dad didn't get his removed until they'd impacted his other teeth, and he was put under for a removal surgery that was like 4 hours. Meanwhile, I preemptively got mine removed before they could try to squeeze in (back in my late teens), and I had a much shorter op where I remained awake.
If they're expected to cause problems, it might be better to get them removed sooner than later.
There's another aspect of this that complicates our understanding, and its that dentists sort of famously over-intervene, often pushing for invasive procedures when they should wait and see, or take more moderate approaches. Multiple studies have found that removing wisdom teeth preemptively, before they're actually causing a problem, is an unnecessary risk that isn't worth the potential benefits. Wisdom teeth sometimes cause problems. But they're sometimes benign too. And usually dentists don't wait to find out which it's going to be, they just yoink them. There are many other areas where dental care is treated this way, for example, dentists' excitement to use new technology to find, drill, and fill "microcavities" when the evidence shows that with topical treatments, these cavities often disappear. Dentists are overexcited to intervene without finding out if intervention is needed.
So our statistics on the "problems" of wisdom teeth are skewed by dentists removing teeth that aren't actually a problem. The vast majority of people have one or more wisdom teeth removed because dentists tell us to. It's not necessarily because the vast majority of us actually experience an issue with the teeth. Many people have them removed before ever experiencing any negative effects, so it's impossible to know how many of those people would have actually had an issue.
Dentists are overexcited to intervene when it might not be needed. I was told at 17 to get my wisdom teeth removed simply because they were there but I chickened out. My top teeth grew in without an issue. The bottom ones are pointed directly towards the front of my mouth, but they've never moved. A couple years ago, one of the top wisdom teeth broke in half from a cavity, and the whole dental team tut-tutted about how I didn't get it removed earlier and "see? this is what happens." But here's the thing... Instead of having all my wisdom teeth surgically removed under general anesthetic as a teen, I had them in my head without issue for 15 years, and then had one pulled with only local anesthetic. I still have the rest.
Severe chronic mental illness since I was a teen causes me to not brush my teeth as often as I need, and almost never use floss. Severe anxiety and poverty kept me away from the dentist from the age of 18 (when routine care was no longer covered) until 35, when I FINALLY got a job with good enough benefits to start getting care again. But the rotten and broken wisdom tooth was blamed on it being a wisdom tooth, rather than being blamed on over two decades of poor hygiene and over a decade with no dental care. My remaining top wisdom tooth has a cavity, so the dentist wants to pull it. Because see? Wisdom teeth are bad, they get cavities. But ALL my teeth have cavities. Every single one. Because... of 2 decades of poor dental hygiene and over a decade with no dental care. They're blinded by learned biases and don't look at the actual evidence.
I'm going to have to fight to keep the other top wisdom tooth. But I'm not agreeing to a removal until it breaks and can be pulled easily. That might never happen.
Thanks Sophie another great video❤❤❤
the timing of this upload is crazy because i have two wisdom teeth removal in 3 hours
I lived with pain for 20 years... and then one gave me a nice infection that was agony for many days. Was supposed to get them out in 2001... but then 9/11 happened and I was stationed at Ft. Bragg.
I had two or three of my wisdom teeth (I legitimately don't remember which), and as they started growing in, they began irritating the sides of my mouth. That caused inflammation, which blocked my parotid duct (salivary tube). Caused a ton of jaw and even neck pain on and off for several months before the doctor said, "time to get those things removed". I hate needles, so I asked if there was a way they could do the extraction without the Novocaine shot; they said no, but they gave me nitrous oxide before the shot, and man... that's the only time I've had N2O, but I *love* it 😂 I wasn't giggling like the movies always show, I just was kind of... calm. Like I was living in a dream a bit, where nothing bothered me. As they worked on my mouth, I could feel everything, and I knew it *should* hurt -- especially that initial needle -- but I just... didn't care about it 😂
TL;DR: I had my wisdom teeth removed *and* learned that N2O is a miracle drug in the same day 😂
I was born with 4 extra wisdom teeth. My surgery and recovery was an extremely painful experience for me and the docter who had never seen that before.
I knew someone with a large jaw and he told me he had so much room he didn’t need to have his wisdom teeth removed.
Shout out to my wisdom teeth for getting me a combined total of six days off from the worst two years of my life! (Was compulsory conscripted into the military which also paid for my medical fees so there was no reason not to just get them out for free and enjoy a break from the horrible hell inside the army) (Technically had five days of sick leave for each pair extracted but alas, I was scheduled to have them extracted on Wednesdays both times)
I don't have any of them (as in it is never there in the first place), yet my younger sister has all 4.
I remember getting mine removed all at the same time. And getting my gums separated from my jaw in the same surgery so I wouldn't "need" to wear my retainer anymore. Then I heard a week later they don't do that surgery anymore due to it being too barbaric