Eek! Just the thought of the troublesome molars at the back of the mouth can send shivers up the spines of even the toughest people. Wisdom teeth come with images of puffy, bruised cheeks, difficulty speaking, and eating through a straw.
However, the removal of these teeth is often of the utmost importance and understanding the science of the wisdom tooth can help make this journey to the dental office a little less scary.
Typically surfacing between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five, wisdom teeth are a third set of molars and usually come in a foursome. However, it is possible to have fewer, and in rare cases, a fifth can join the party. Thirty-five percent of the population will never have wisdom teeth.
Unfortunately, most people today do not have the room in their mouth for the additional number of teeth. Because there is limited space for their growth, these molars tend to grow incorrectly.
In many cases, they will actually become impacted, which is to say that they form horizontally and never break through the gum line. In other cases, only a small portion of the tooth will poke through. Even in the best cases, it is typically recommended that these teeth be removed.
Because human beings are not as prone to losing teeth today as they were in ancient times, these teeth serve no purpose and can actually make one more susceptible to bacterial infections, as they are difficult to keep clean being located to far back into the mouth.
For more information, keep reading.
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