MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT WISDOM TOOTH
When people talk about excruciating pain from natural causes, probably top of the list would be child birth. Depending on the person and their medical history, passing a kidney stone, suffering from an intense migraine, or severe back pain may also make it into their personal top three.
Another cause of extreme pain however, which many of us are unfortunately able to relate to, is the agonizing toothache associated with wisdom teeth problem. If you’ve never suffered the agony of wisdom teeth, you may be one of the evolutionary lucky ones. Let us see various Myths and facts regarding this wisdom teeth
What are our wisdom teeth?
Our wisdom teeth are our “third molars”
Why are they called wisdom teeth?
As the teeth don’t emerge until a person is in their late teens/early twenties, they appear at a time (18-25 years) when a person is wiser than when they were younger.
Why Do they Cause Us Problems?
Our human ancestors had four sets of three molars. This gave us a total of 12 ‘grinding teeth’ – six in the upper jaw and six in the lower jaw. We used these molars to help chew and grind food. We humans underwent a period in which our brains greatly expanded in size. This created an architectural problem; with a much larger brain case, the jaw had to become narrower so that it could still connect to the lower part of the skull. And over the course of thousands of years, this has led to a mismatch. Today the human jaw is no longer large enough, in many cases, to give wisdom teeth room to erupt through the gums and sit properly in the mouth. This resulted in several problems like food impaction between partially erupted third molar and gum covering the tooth, resulting in infection and inflammation of that area, halitosis/ bad breath, decay of third molars and some times even decay or resorption of second molars. Because of insufficient space, it may also cause incisal crowding. Upper third molar malposition has also its role in temporo mandibular disorders.
Do Wisdom teeth must always be removed?
More that 60% of wisdom teeth removals are not needed. Wisdom teeth only need to be removed if they are fully or partially impacted under the gum, or if they will cause damage to surrounding teeth, jawbone or nerves.
Is it better to remove wisdom teeth when you’re young?
Many dentists recommend having wisdom teeth removed before they begin to cause problems. Removal is easier in younger people because the roots of the teeth are not fully developed and the bone is less dense. For older people, recovery time and healing may take longer.
Is it better to remove wisdom teeth before orthodontic work?
The eruption of wisdom teeth may cause other teeth to move, but some studies show this is rare.
Is it very painful to undergo wisdom tooth extraction?
Not always. Most of the cases, the procedure will be painless. But you may have post operative pain, discomfort and swelling, which subsides by using medication.