by Uma Shankari

Created on: October 10, 2009

Ever since hominids started walking upright, their jaws have been shrinking (and their brains expanding) over the millenia owing to evolution. Our ancestors ate rough roots and nuts and raw meat that caused the teeth to protrude forward and create space for wisdom teeth or the third molars that came in later. The excessive wear and tear due to hard food they ate habitually caused teeth to fall sooner, making way for the newly arriving wisdom teeth. The advent of fire and the modern softer processed food cause less wear and tear to the teeth. Also, the evolutionary effect of shrinking has left only a few people with a jaw large enough to accommodate the wisdom teeth. Biologists now classify them as vestigial organs, or body parts that have become redundant.

Wisdom teeth erupt in your late teens and early twenties, which is why they are called wisdom teeth. Wisdom teeth don't make their appearances in every mouth. Even their number is not fixed; it varies from one to four, or sometimes to even higher number, according to a study published in the Journal of the Canadian Dental Association. Whatever be the reason for the excessive number of teeth to appear, they subject their owner to a miserably painful existence. Whenever there is not enough space in the jaws for them to poke through, they drift about looking for a space in the jaw and get blocked by tissues and other teeth. This can make an adjacent tooth to malposition itself. Besides, they can become a fertile ground for the bacteria to feed on the food trapped in the interstices and the intractable infection that follows may develop into cysts. If the cyst is not treated, a tumor may develop from the walls of the cyst and a more involved surgical procedure may be required for removal.

There is lack of consensus among dentists whether the wisdom tooth should be removed. Should they be extracted only if they cause problems or should they be pre-emptively extracted giving them no chance for mischief? Often, in order to accommodate prosthetic appliances, asymptomatic impacted wisdom teeth are removed. American Association of Oral and Maxofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) opine that it is unwise to wait until trouble, because by then it would have become too difficult to handle easily. They caution that impacted wisdom teeth often grow at an awkward angle making their removal more difficult. People who have oral surgery after the age of 35 have higher risks for complications, more difficult surgeries, and longer healing times than those who get them removed in their late teens or early 20's. Increasing age also brings greater likelihood that bone surgery will be needed to pull the tooth. There is also the risk of nerve damage that causes numbness in parts of the face and speech impairments.

Since you may be unaware of the damages that a nascent wisdom tooth may have already done, AAOMS advises getting an early extraction of the wisdom teeth before they become impacted.

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