The Many Benefits of Digital X-Rays
Digital X-rays provide a safer, faster dental experience. With 80-90% less radiation than film and instant high-res images, we catch issues early while keeping your comfort and safety our top priority.
Does Everybody Eventually Have to Get Their Wisdom Teeth Removed?
Because the practice is so common, it’s easy to think that all wisdom teeth must be extracted at some point. The fact is, you only need your wisdom teeth removed when they become problematic.
The reality is that wisdom teeth often become problems. That’s why the team at Redmond Smiles Family & Implant Dentistry in Redmond and Bellevue, Washington, keeps an eye on the wisdom teeth of you and your family. Extraction is often the best choice for overall oral health.
The role of wisdom teeth
Wisdom teeth take their name as the last of your adult teeth to erupt through the gums, when you’re “older and wiser.” That’s only if you consider the late teens or early adulthood to be a time of age and wisdom. These molars usually make their presence known by the time a person reaches their 22nd birthday.
Your distant ancestors needed third molars because dental care wasn’t yet a field of study. Diets often place greater demands on the masticatory action afforded by the large chewing surfaces of molars.
These late-emerging third molars once well served humans, but the development of farming and food preparation reduced the need for them, and advancements in dentistry made them even less important.
Why do we extract wisdom teeth?
The most obvious reason is space. Humans have actively evolved with a diet of readily available, often processed foods. Milled flour, refined sugars, and other features of the contemporary diet take work away from your mouth.
Easier eating means fewer damaged and lost teeth, as well as less interaction between the teeth and the jaws, a relationship that strengthens and builds bone and muscle density. Therefore, people sometimes no longer have the room for a full complement of 32 adult teeth.
This creates problems for which extraction is often the best solution. These include:
- Impacted teeth: wisdom teeth that remain entirely or partially trapped within the jaw or gums
- Tooth crowding: erupting wisdom teeth push against adjacent molars, causing tight spaces and disrupted tooth alignment
- Tooth decay starts in places where the gaps between teeth become too tight for adequate brushing and flossing
- Increased risk of abscess, gum disease, and infection
Discomfort and pain can accompany any of these conditions.
When wisdom teeth don’t require removal
Extraction isn’t necessary when your wisdom teeth erupt through the gums normally, as your other adult teeth did. The third molars will line up with both the adjacent teeth and each other, top and bottom.
The wisdom teeth will be easy to reach for brushing and will have adequate space for flossing. They won’t be prone to decay or infection, and you won’t feel aches, discomfort, or pain because of them.
However, about 85% of people need at least one wisdom tooth extracted. When we recommend removing them, you’re definitely in the majority. The younger the person, the easier the surgery, and the risk of oral health issues stays under control.
Contact Redmond Smiles Family & Implant Dentistry to schedule a wisdom tooth evaluation. Call or click to book with our nearest location today.
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