Wisdom Teeth
Nearly all of us develop wisdom teeth and almost all of us wish we didn’t!
Wisdom teeth are, in essence, our third set of molars. They develop on the right and left, top and bottom.
We can consider them "visitors" from a previous life that have long outlived their welcome and their usefulness.
There was a time when our eating habits demanded more teeth, presumably to tear and chew raw meat off the bones
of animals.
Our forefathers' jaws were large enough to accommodate 32 teeth, including the third molars, our wisdom teeth. Today our jaws are only large enough to house twenty-eight teeth. By our late teens, our jaws have reached adult size, but are not usually large enough to hold the wisdom teeth. As a result, these teeth can become trapped in the bone (or impacted). When this happens, they grow wherever they can. The crown or chewing portion of the tooth may break through the gum or may remain completely in the bone.
Regular X-rays can give us a good indication of whether or not your wisdom teeth will give you problems. Removal of wisdom teeth at a younger age before complications develop means easier extractions and faster recovery time.