Healthy wisdom teeth will come in very handy come dinner time November 26th this year.
Cool Jaw wishes you Happy Thanksgiving – Lehigh Valley Style!
The worst thing you can do is ignore your wisdom teeth. Whether you’re guilty of ignoring them (what harm could a few extra teeth do?) or they’re just coming through, Johnson, an American Dental Association spokesman, and Edward Lahey, an attending in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and instructor at Harvard School of Dental Medicine, share a little wisdom teeth background with author, Stephanie Steinberg, in “The Survival Guide to Getting Your Wisdom Teeth Removed” U.S. News and World Report, May 2014.
Why do people have wisdom teeth?
In prehistoric times, humans had larger, stronger jaws, and wisdom teeth helped with chewing coarse foods such as raw meat and plants. Our ancestors also tended to lose teeth, so a third set of molars (the first develops around age 6 and the second around age 12) had enough room to grow. Fast-forward through evolution, and we have a conundrum: “Modern jaw size and better dental health now make it less likely for wisdom teeth to erupt into a functional position,” Johnson says.
How do I know if I have wisdom teeth?
Your dentist can detect if you have an erupted or impacted wisdom tooth. Depending on your dentist’s expertise, he or she may recommend you visit an oral surgeon who specializes in wisdom teeth care.
In some cases, patients may experience symptoms such as swelling in the back of the oral cavity; limited jaw mobility; or pain when chewing. However, the majority of people with wisdom teeth don’t feel any symptoms, which can be just as problematic.
“Just because wisdom teeth are asymptomatic, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re disease-free,” Johnson says. “It’s really important to have someone monitor them because a disease process can occur, and you may not feel it.”
Wisdom teeth can lead to infections, lesions, cysts, tumors or damage to adjacent teeth. Johnson says about 25 percent of the population with asymptomatic wisdom teeth develop periodontal disease, also known as gum disease. If ignored, some conditions can escalate and become life-threatening. But if your tooth is disease-free and has room to erupt, then it may be OK to keep. Just make sure to schedule regular checkups, so your dentist can track if the tooth moves or diseases develop, Johnson says.
So be thankful for your good oral health when you sit down to that Thanksgiving feast…and keep an eye on those wisdom teeth.
