Do wisdom teeth really need to come out, or is my dentist trying to hustle me?

Wisdom teeth out? Probably not (if they are healthy). Last winter a friend was having her daughter get her wisdom teeth removed...the dentist suggested it. At the same time, a friend who is an orthodontist was visiting, and said that if the teeth were healthy he would NOT have them out. He went on to say that in dental school, it is the dental surgeons who teach the material on wisdom teeth (removal). He said that dental surgeons make lots of money on these unnecessary removals. Conflict of interest... Flash back to the 1970's. I had a wisdom tooth (I still have all 4) that the dentist said needed to come out because it was biting the gum. The dentist pulled, and prodded and poked, but the tooth refused to budge. He took an x-ray, and there was the beautiful tooth giving the dentist the finger ("you're not going to get me out"). The dentist gave up and just cut away some of the gum flap. (I had learned an even easier remedy years earlier...gargle with hydrogen peroxide to cut down ...  more

My dad is a dentist, and I am still in possession at 42 of two of my wisdom teeth. His explanation to me has always been - you want to hang on to your wisdom teeth as long as you reasonably can, since having back teeth is the prerequisite for not having to have dentures later on (and dentures are awful). The logic is that you would far prefer to have a crown/bridge combo in the future and you need some back teeth to hang them off of. If you have no pain, and you can afford it, you can take a conservative approach of having the bad stuff filled or root canal-ed as necessary - but then you really need to do proper dental maintenance in the future. One additional reason some dentists recommend removal of wisdom teeth - they are just plain hard to work on, seeing as how they are very far back in your mouth. Cavities on the back side of your wisdom teeth develop because you don't reach there with your toothbrush, and your dentist has trouble reaching there too. You can find a dentist who ...  more

I think the answer to "do wisdom teeth really need to come out" is "sometimes yes, sometimes no." But I don't think you can become one of the people who get to keep theirs out of sheer will. Basically, if your dentist is a creep, get a new dentist regardless. Try not to judge the new guy based only on whether he thinks they should come out. I still haven't decided on mine, mainly because my dentist wavers between a non-urgent "I don't like the look of those, here's a card for an oral surgeon" and "those look like they're coming in OK, don't worry about it." If I'm honest with myself, the reason I don't want mine out is that I had a gap as a kid and I don't want it to come back.  more

I have all five of my wisdom teeth. Every time I see a new dentist, they want to take the wisdom teeth out "at least that little fifth one over up there". I continue to say no. Why mess with a healthy tooth? I'm mumble-mumble years old, have all my 33 teeth and I feel fine, thank you for asking.  more

Just FWIW, there is one downside to waiting until there's trouble to have your wisdom teeth removed. Nerve damage. As you age, the roots grow longer, and eventually can (and often do) grow so long that they're in the nerve in your lower jaw or reach all the way to the nasal cavity (which is good for an infection when they remove a tooth) My SO had her wisdom teeth out at 26. One of the lower ones managed to bruise a nerve on the way out and it's never healed. If she touches her jaw in the right (wrong?) way, she still gets a pins and needles sensation. She describes it as rather unpleasant, but luckily not easily triggered accidentally. Now, if they're already so long nerve damage a possibility, there's not really any reason to do it before you feel like it (or ever). FWIW, I also had mine out late and had no problems at all, so it's not as if it will happen, but it's something to be aware of.  more

Seems to me like this is a decision that should be made on an individual basis and upon the advice of a medical professional. My dentist wanted me to have mine taken out when I was 25 because I had one that was so decayed that she said I was in danger of an abscess. She thought that I might as well have the other three yanked at the same time. I am very cavity-prone, so I agreed. She, meanwhile, was a woman in her fifties and had one taken out on her lunch break one day before she worked on me. There are hustler dentist's out there, so get a second opinion. But do drop the "I don't need to go to a dentist" attitude and see a dentist you trust at least once a year. Good dental care is one of the plusses of the modern age. Take full advantage of it and you'll be glad you did later in life.  more

First: You would be surprised what you can have done without more than a mild local if you can convince the person doing it that you will sit still. Yes, you should get a second opinion but there's no reason to think that you don't need dental care. I have this thing with people who say "no pain/problems" or "I never get sick." You aren't like this, I'm sure, but my darling friends tend to forget the time they would not STFU and made us drive 4 miles-an-hour from Oakland to LA because they had such an awful headache and then two days later went right back to crowing about how they "never get sick." That's all I'm saying. And even without that, it's routine maintenance. Go to the dentist. If you have a car, check the tire pressure. Clean the coils on your fridge. It's just what you should do. If you are bound and determined not to have teeth pulled, let's hope you don't have hyperdontia - some people grow a few teeth here and there way past the cavity prone years.  more

Get a second opinion. One of my wisdom teeth erupted correctly, the other three are all at a right angle(ish). In two cases, the second molar was removed, so that the wisdom tooth could erupt in its place. This seems to have worked well. In the remaining case, it's somewhat dormant and the dentist is very much "wait and see." When it comes to dentistry, there are nearly always other options. Unless there's infection, a good chance of infection, or structural damage being caused by poorly aligned wisdom teeth then, from what I've read over the years, there's no reason to just have them out without reason.  more

As a kid, lots of cavities, no talk of braces or molars out. Then as a young adult, a new dentist said my molars would have to come out. When I asked if it was because of [uninformed guess as to what the reason might be that I've since forgotten], he said no, for another reason, but didn't tell me what the reason was. Since then (and it's been well over a decade) no dentist has ever brought them up again. So it's possible you don't need them done, but if my story above ended in "and my next dentist mentioned it, too, and gave me the same reason" then I'd be pushing you to do it, so go get that second opinion.  more

If you got a weird vibe you should definitely ask another dentist. I had one impacted wisdom tooth which had to come out. The dentist told me unequivocally that I should get them all out because they're hard to clean, etc etc. So I did, and never felt like it was used-car pitch or whatever.  more