do wisdom teeth serve any other purpose than causing pain?

if you were a part of the world's earliest civilizations, you would have been very grateful for that third set of molars.

by nick beare

published jul 26, 2022

3 minute read

join the conversation

3 minute read

join the conversation

do wisdom teeth serve any other purpose than causing pain?

one study found that around 53 per cent of people aged 25 and older have had at least one wisdom tooth grow in. getty

anyone who has ever had their wisdom teeth removed knows there is nothing particularly wise about them. they pretty much just cause pain. so, what’s the point of wisdom teeth? why do we get them? and why are they called wisdom teeth, anyway?

let’s find out.

is there anything wise about wisdom teeth?

officially called third molars, wisdom teeth get their name because they arrive a little later than our other teeth — between the ages of 17 and 21 when we’re (supposedly) a little wiser.

why do we have wisdom teeth?

we get a set of baby teeth at a young age that are quickly replaced by another set that we keep for life, but the specific placement of the teeth in our mouths is no coincidence.

humans evolved to have sharper teeth at the front of our mouths to cut food, while the back of the mouth is filled with flatter molars to help grind food down before swallowing. we also have a third set of molars, which, in the early days of civilization when human diets consisted of tough meat and humans primarily used their teeth to tear food made perfect sense to reduce the strain placed on the second set.

but today, we have access to technology and tools that allow us to cook, cut and tenderize meat and other food, making this third set of molars mostly obsolete. in fact, these days, wisdom teeth do little more than cause pain as they begin to erupt through the gums.

problems with wisdom teeth

most people have four wisdom teeth, two at the top on either side of the mouth and two at the bottom on either side, and usually they grow in correctly and can help with chewing. but not everyone has enough space in their mouth to accommodate wisdom teeth, which is when problems can start as they change positions and become misaligned, or “impacted.”

while your wisdom teeth are making their way through the gums, according to mouth healthy, your dentist will be looking for the following signs that a problem is brewing: your wisdom teeth aren’t in the right position, allowing food to become trapped and cause cavities; they haven’t come in properly, which makes it difficult to floss; they have only partially come through which can give bacteria a place to enter the gums and cause infection; they don’t have room to come through and are crowding or damaging neighbouring teeth; and an impacted wisdom tooth that can form a cyst and possibly damage the roots of other teeth or destroy the bone that supports the teeth.

wisdom teeth are also susceptible to infection since they are at the back of the mouth and are harder to reach with a toothbrush or floss — leaving any spaces vulnerable to bacteria and infection.

when should wisdom teeth be removed?

one study found that around 53 per cent of people aged 25 and older have had at least one wisdom tooth grow in. your dentist may take an x-ray to confirm how many wisdom teeth you have and what their status is inside your mouth. if there is evidence of tooth decay, gum disease, cysts, infection, tumours or if you report severe pain, it may be recommended that your wisdom teeth be removed.

teenagers are often evaluated before their wisdom teeth become a problem by a simple x-ray to determine if the teeth are likely to cause damage to other teeth or create issues like tooth decay or pain.

wisdom teeth surgery

while wisdom teeth are usually removed during teen and young adult years, if they aren’t causing problems, some people choose to leave them in. but that doesn’t mean that issues may develop in later life, particularly pain. according to the center for oral & facial surgery, this can be caused by the pressure on wisdom teeth nerves as they continue develop as you age or cavities that form near wisdom teeth. you may decide to have them removed to ease discomfort.

the surgery takes about 45 minutes and is done with local or general anesthesia, with recovery taking between a couple of days to two weeks depending on the severity of the impacted teeth and your age, reports the cleveland clinic.

nick beare is a toronto-based writer.

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do wisdom teeth serve any other purpose than causing pain?

if you were a part of the world's earliest civilizations, you would have been very grateful for that third set of molars.