9 ms·

My wisdom teeth actually fit in my mouth. Because I took care of them (and the rest of my teeth) as they started growing out, I get to keep them. Dentists far

My wisdom teeth actually fit in my mouth. Because I took care of them (and the rest of my teeth) as they started growing out, I get to keep them. Dentists far too often recommend extraction for wisdom teeth when it's unnecessary, probably because they can charge a hefty fee for it.

pyre 15y ago
> My wisdom teeth actually fit in my mouth. Because > I took care of them I think this is the point of contention... Whether or not your wisdom teeth fit into your mouth or grow in the right direction is not a matter of 'proper dental hygiene.'
- hobin 15y ago
  Unless 'proper dental hygiene' includes putting stones in your mouth and trying to make it bigger.
- skimbrel 15y ago
  To defend myself here (a day later), I was not assigning the causality in that direction. The "Because I took care of them" clause goes with the "I get to keep them", as in "I made sure to clean them and not let them get cavities, so there aren't any problems with them staying around". I thought the English was clear enough as I wrote it, but I guess parse errors are more common than I thought.
marvin 15y ago
Very commonly, a person's jaw/mouth is too small for the wistom teeth to fit. Case in point, I (25-year old guy) had a wisdom tooth which grew sideways (into the next tooth) and _would_ have destroyed the next tooth and caused an infection like the one linked in the article. I have a second one which might do the same. These things are not preventable, you were just born lucky. Remember, humans didn't usually live to become 50 years old.
- Zancarius 15y ago
  > Very commonly, a person's jaw/mouth is too small for the wistom teeth to fit. Exactly this. I had something similar (identical?): A horizontal impaction of my bottom right molar. Had I left it longer, it would've destroyed the roots to the molar in front of it, and I would've lost that tooth, too. I suspect it's largely genetic. My mum has all her wisdom teeth, and she's never had an issue; my father had all of his removed because they didn't come in straight. My situation played out identically to his. Hence, I don't believe that simply taking pristine care of the teeth will magically help--if they don't erupt from the gums properly or come in crooked, there isn't much else that can be done save an extraction if they're problematic. In many cases, you're better off having them removed to prevent issues precisely like this one.
  - andrewem 15y ago
    I'm missing two upper teeth [0], which resulted in my having enough room in my mouth for my upper wisdom teeth to fit comfortably. It's evidently of genetic origin in my case, as I have relatives who are missing the same teeth, which I think from that source are called the upper lateral incisors. Were I not missing those teeth I expect I'd have needed the upper wisdom teeth removed to make room. (On a tangent, there's a great article [1] about how bulldogs have been bread to have massive jaws and a very short face and that results in all kinds of breathing difficulties.) [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypodontia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypodontia [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/can-the-bulldog-be-saved.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/can-the-bulldog-b...
    - Zancarius 15y ago
      Interesting. I know of at least two other people with that condition who were missing a number of adult teeth that never came in. Though, I think their example is somewhat more extreme (and according to Wikipedia, I guess it would be classified as oligodontia), because at least one of them required extensive dental surgery for implants since they quite literally lacked 6+ (maybe more?) teeth. > (On a tangent, there's a great article [1] about how bulldogs have been bread to have massive jaws and a very short face and that results in all kinds of breathing difficulties.) I bet that applies to persian cats, too, since they're bred with extensively concave faces (something that seems cruel, IMO). Very interesting reply--thanks for sharing that, because I had completely forgotten that one of my friends has a similar condition. Can't believe I completely forgot he had implantation done, too...

pyre 15y ago

> My wisdom teeth actually fit in my mouth. Because > I took care of them I think this is the point of contention... Whether or not your wisdom teeth fit into your mouth or grow in the right direction is not a matter of 'proper dental hygiene.'

hobin 15y ago
Unless 'proper dental hygiene' includes putting stones in your mouth and trying to make it bigger.
skimbrel 15y ago
To defend myself here (a day later), I was not assigning the causality in that direction. The "Because I took care of them" clause goes with the "I get to keep them", as in "I made sure to clean them and not let them get cavities, so there aren't any problems with them staying around". I thought the English was clear enough as I wrote it, but I guess parse errors are more common than I thought.

marvin 15y ago

Very commonly, a person's jaw/mouth is too small for the wistom teeth to fit. Case in point, I (25-year old guy) had a wisdom tooth which grew sideways (into the next tooth) and _would_ have destroyed the next tooth and caused an infection like the one linked in the article. I have a second one which might do the same. These things are not preventable, you were just born lucky. Remember, humans didn't usually live to become 50 years old.

Zancarius 15y ago
> Very commonly, a person's jaw/mouth is too small for the wistom teeth to fit. Exactly this. I had something similar (identical?): A horizontal impaction of my bottom right molar. Had I left it longer, it would've destroyed the roots to the molar in front of it, and I would've lost that tooth, too. I suspect it's largely genetic. My mum has all her wisdom teeth, and she's never had an issue; my father had all of his removed because they didn't come in straight. My situation played out identically to his. Hence, I don't believe that simply taking pristine care of the teeth will magically help--if they don't erupt from the gums properly or come in crooked, there isn't much else that can be done save an extraction if they're problematic. In many cases, you're better off having them removed to prevent issues precisely like this one.
- andrewem 15y ago
  I'm missing two upper teeth [0], which resulted in my having enough room in my mouth for my upper wisdom teeth to fit comfortably. It's evidently of genetic origin in my case, as I have relatives who are missing the same teeth, which I think from that source are called the upper lateral incisors. Were I not missing those teeth I expect I'd have needed the upper wisdom teeth removed to make room. (On a tangent, there's a great article [1] about how bulldogs have been bread to have massive jaws and a very short face and that results in all kinds of breathing difficulties.) [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypodontia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypodontia [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/can-the-bulldog-be-saved.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/can-the-bulldog-b...
  - Zancarius 15y ago
    Interesting. I know of at least two other people with that condition who were missing a number of adult teeth that never came in. Though, I think their example is somewhat more extreme (and according to Wikipedia, I guess it would be classified as oligodontia), because at least one of them required extensive dental surgery for implants since they quite literally lacked 6+ (maybe more?) teeth. > (On a tangent, there's a great article [1] about how bulldogs have been bread to have massive jaws and a very short face and that results in all kinds of breathing difficulties.) I bet that applies to persian cats, too, since they're bred with extensively concave faces (something that seems cruel, IMO). Very interesting reply--thanks for sharing that, because I had completely forgotten that one of my friends has a similar condition. Can't believe I completely forgot he had implantation done, too...