Wisdom Teeth 101

 With the ease of recording with our mobile devices, we can record life’s events that, before, were just retold as family stories. Social media trends in recording post wisdom teeth removal musings have resulted in some of the funniest videos online. 

I can’t tell you how glad I am that no one was taping my post wisdom teeth behavior because I am told that at one point I asked, “Mommy, please carry me,” right before I buckled at the knees and fell to the floor of a parking garage with the grace and style of Bambi on the icy pond. I have been told that this move was appreciated by all the lookers-on and that one man came to help my mother in her noble efforts in restoring me to an upright position. 

Why take out wisdom teeth – don’t these kids need all the wisdom they can get? 

Yes, they certainly do, but these extra teeth don’t do much in that arena, sorry! (Couldn’t help it, it’s something that we hear a lot!) 

There are many reasons that you may need to see an oral surgeon to have your wisdom teeth removed in your late teens and early adulthood. The most common one of these, according to your friendly Spanish Fork dentist is that there is just not enough room in your mouth for four more teeth. In this case, the wisdom teeth are impacted, meaning that they are not coming in at the right angle and can push against the molars or even partially erupt.  

They’re impacted – how important is it to take them out? 

If your wisdom teeth are impacted, the best course of action is to have them removed by an oral surgeon. So doing can prevent infection, cysts around the improperly aligned wisdom tooth/teeth, pain, and even tooth decay since the crowding can result in difficulty brushing and flossing. 

Oral oddities 

Did you know that many people are missing one or more of their wisdom teeth? This tends to run in families, so if one of your close relatives didn’t have all four, then you may have hit the wisdom teeth jackpot too.  

On the other hand, some people are born with too many teeth. My father was born with two sets of baby teeth, one of them fully erupted shortly after birth! Sadly, there is no photographic evidence of this shark-like oddity. Likewise, he had six wisdom teeth instead of four. 

If your wisdom teeth come in and you don’t have any trouble with them, it is still important to monitor them for signs of increased tooth decay, so come on in to your friendly Spanish Fork Dental practice, Rogers Dentistry, and we’ll let you know if you won a trip to the oral surgeon or not!