Wisdom Teeth Didn’t Use to Need to Be Extracted

Many of us had our wisdom teeth removed right around the end of high school. It’s so normal it’s almost a rite of passage, if not an unpleasant one. But why do almost all of us need a wisdom tooth extraction? Well, believe it or not, our wisdom teeth are a lot like our appendixes – they used to be really important, but over time they’ve lost their purpose. It’s just that evolution hasn’t caught up to how rapidly the human lifestyle has changed in the last 10,000 years or so.

People used to live in very small groups and move around very often, eating primarily meat and woody plants, hence the term hunter-gatherers. Our jaws needed to be able to work down tough materials, so we needed all those molars, including the wisdom teeth. And they never used to be a problem; they’d come in and erupt just like all your other teeth, and they had room to. But over time, as people settled down and began to raise livestock and farm crops, our diets became much softer. As a consequence, our jaws didn’t need to work nearly as hard, so they became smaller. Not only did this cause wisdom teeth to be unnecessary for masticating properly, but it meant there wasn’t any room for them.

The Consequences of a Smaller Jaw and Too Many Teeth

A smaller jaw meant a few things for humanity. One big consequence of our shrunken jaws is overbites and crowded teeth. Another is that wisdom teeth, more often than not, don’t have the room they need to erupt, so they end up causing problems. Even when they don’t cause problems and they come in just fine, they’re still a completely unnecessary set of molars, since we’re not gnawing on roots and tree nuts anymore. Here’s the thing, though – many of us actually are.

People used to think that before modern dental care, people with impacted wisdom teeth would just get infections and die. So then follows the amateur-evolutionary theory that biology would just slowly breed out wisdom teeth. But if you look at other parts of the world where there isn’t agriculture and industrialized food processes? Those people’s jaws look much more like all of ours used to. It’s actually estimated that almost half the people on this planet still have jaws that accommodate their wisdom teeth just fine. But in industrialized countries like ours where kids are raised on soft foods? Not so.

When You Do or Don’t Need a Wisdom Tooth Extraction

So we’ve established that the relationship between us and our wisdom teeth is a little complicated. We’ve got a long and unclear history together. Let’s get out of theory and back into real life: when do you know you need a wisdom tooth extraction?

If they don’t come in at all (impaction), or only partially come in, that area is left vulnerable to infection and decay, so the teeth should be removed. Same if you have pain in the area, bleeding or swelling. However, if they erupted completely, are sat in line with your other teeth and aren’t crowding other teeth or causing pain, you can probably just leave them. Either way, it’s best to visit your family dentist and ask them what their best advice is on whether or not you need your wisdom teeth extracted.