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 the
The dentist today took some xrays and did an examination and told me I need to have all 4 wisdom teeth out asap due to cavities and then probably a filling or root canal on one of my back molars. I won’t bore you with the details but I really got the “used car salesman” vibe – scare tactics, time pressure tactics, etc. Whoa whoa–cavities are serious business and can lead to all sorts of problems, from bad breath to infections to blood clots. You’ve been seriously remiss in taking care of your teeth (the fact that you don’t have pain doesn’t mean that your oral health isn’t otherwise bad–the needed root canal is an indication of this) and this can definitely impact your health generally. Sure, you can get a second opinion, but chances are you’ll hear more of the same. Now my stance on wisdom teeth has always been that I wouldn’t have them out – while the expense doesn’t really bother me I’m not interested in the pain or the risk involved in being anesthetised. I think it’s generally a
If they’re in straight, and you are cleaning them effectively, they won’t cause a problem – like my wisdom teeth (all 4 still present and healthy). If they come in crooked, or unnecessarily crowd your mouth, they need to come out – like my wife’s wisdom teeth. If they’re in straight but are rotting, pull the bastards. Odds are your dentist is opting for removal rather than drill and fill based on your previous history of wisdom tooth care. You have shown by the condition of your teeth that you are doing a poor job of keeping them clean. Filling won’t fix your bad dental health habits. It’s easy to brush the ones in front. Wisdom teeth are more difficult. Some of us can get at them, some can’t. You don’t actually need them, but you do need to listen to medical professionals when you ask them for their opinions regarding your health. They are not salesmen. They have a legal obligation to protect your health, and not surprisingly they know more about this than you do – because that’s what
I was told as a teenager that I would not need to have my wisdom teeth out, so when at 21 I was told I should get them out, I was skeptical. I got a second opinion that agreed, and still ignored it for two years, until I started getting infections in the gum around the wisdom teeth that lasted for days and hurt like a mofo. They’re not impacted, but slight remnants of gum over the teeth make it impossible for me to clean them properly and lead to a buildup of bacteria that I can’t prevent. I’m now getting mine out in December. I mean mankind has lived with these things in their head for thousands of years before modern dentistry and health funds made it “compulsory” to have them removed possible to live longer than 30.
My dentist (who I’ve been seeing for about 15 years) started telling me early on that I should consider getting my wisdom teeth out. He’s not an oral surgeon, so unless he’s getting kickbacks, he has no financial incentive. I asked him if it was an urgent problem. He explained “no, but they look like they could become a problem at some point, and it’s just a lot easier on you to pull them when you’re younger.” In short, he said it was my call, but he also made it sound like it would be a problem at some point. I waited. About five years ago, one of them got infected. It was only slightly painful, and if I was really stubborn, I could have simply had that infection treated with antibiotics and deal with future infections the same way. I chose to get them pulled. I got them pulled under a local anesthetic. It was, as promised, unpleasant and expensive but not painful per se. The process took about 10 minutes. I can imagine that if I had a problem with wisdom teeth at an old age, it would
