Do wisdom teeth really need to come out, or is my dentist trying to hustle me?
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.
I had one wisdom tooth start to develop and was told I would have to have it out before I turned 25. Well, I am 33 and still waiting for it to appear. Other than that, I had no wisdom teeth at all. Suck on that, meatbags! Anyway, wisdom teeth are pretty susceptible to decay. The enamel is often inferior compared to the other teeth. They are also more likely to develop roots that interfere with your sinuses. But, really, there is no reason to have them out if they aren’t causing you problems. I think the question is, does he think they should come out because they are rotting apart or because they are wisdom teeth. I would see another dentist and specifically say you would like to treat them like any other tooth in your mouth.
Over lunch the other day with several friends (ages 30something to late 50s), we realized that everyone at the table had declined to have wisdom teeth removed. None regret the decision, though all had some degree of crowding in the front. The extent to which it was noticeable happened (coincidentally? I have no idea…) to correlate with age. The oldest has one tooth that literally got shoved in front of and above all the others. Snaggletoothed. None of us have pain back there, but do have problems keeping those suckers clean. For my part, the jaw bones block the toothbrush from getting back in there far enough. Oh, and the gums were hurting constantly for at least a year or so while they were erupting. During the first 10 years or so, I also was bedeviled by those gum flaps slooooowly receding from the bottom two, because they trapped a lot of gunk underneath. Sometimes a drugstore dental pick was the only thing that could pull stuff out of there. Periodically it’d go beyond a hygiene
Every dentist I have ever seen has told me I need to get mine taken out, but they don’t bother me so I never did. My teeth are a very tiny bit crowded, I guess, but they are straight. When they were breaking through the gums that was annoying and hurt and I thought, “Well I guess it’s time to go get them removed” but it went away before I could make an appointment with a dentist. I have never had a single cavity or any other problem.
