Wisdom
--- The word conjurs up the image of an elderly professor,
stroking his (or her) beard, putting forth opinions based
on years of knowledge. Add "tooth" to wisdom and you have
a very different picture. The term "wisdom tooth" has a
negative aura (much like root canal).
Wisdom
teeth (technically "third molars") are 4 teeth that usually
appear around the age of 17. (Hence the term "wisdom"-17
being the age when a person was thought to become an adult).
I personally thought the age of wisdom was nine, when I
realized I knew more than my parents , or so I believed
at the time.
Anthropologists
see wisdom teeth as a throwback to pre-historic times. Our
jaws were longer and wider. There was plenty of room for
these extra teeth, needed for those caveman diets. ( Picture
a Cro-Magnon type chomping away on a wild buffalo). Fast
forward a few million years---- our jaws are smaller, hence
the problem with third molars.
A
large proportion of the population does not have enough
room for wisdom teeth to assume a normal position. They
can lie horizontally, grow out towards the cheeks, get stuck
under adjacent teeth, develop cysts, and in general, play
havoc with your mouth.
Past
wisdom (no pun intended) dictated that an oral surgeon would
remove most of these teeth. Current thinking is to remove
only those teeth that have partially grown thru the gums.
Bacteria can enter this opening, causing infections. A tooth
that is far out of position will cause trauma to the delicate
tissue inside your mouth and must be removed. Other reasons
for removal include a cyst around the teeth, or potential
damage to an adjacent tooth. If a third molar is laying
on its side, but encased in bone, current practice is to
leave it alone-unless the oral surgeon is having trouble
with the payments on his new Ferrari.
In
general, lower wisdom teeth are more difficult to remove
than other teeth, due to their position and malalignment.
Several complications can result from having this type of
surgery (i.e. nerve damage, numbness, infections, damage
to adjacent teeth, etc.). The surgeon will explain these
potential problems and have you sign an "informed consent
" or as we call it a "cover my ass form". This is not intended
to scare you, as the percentage of problems is very low.
Some
of you will be blessed with trouble-free wisdom teeth. Others
will experience difficulty with one or more of the teeth.
Rest assured that oral surgeons are highly trained and experienced
in the removal of these troublesome teeth. Your IQ will
not be affected by their removal.
