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