Your Kid’s Dentist Could Ask to Pull Wisdom Teeth for No Real Reason: Prepare Yourself
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Photo: Erik Abderhalden / Creative Commons
I've heard stories. Many, many, brutal stories of wisdom tooth extractions. My favorite is of the guy whose greatest injury post-extraction wasn't in his mouth; it was his bruised breastbone.
This sounds like a tall tale, but it was told to me firsthand by the traumatized patient: the dentist was having a bit of, ehem, trouble with the removal of the stubborn teeth in question. After an epic battle with teeth who clearly wanted to stay put, the dentist wound up kneeling on his patient's chest for better leverage to yank his teeth out. Methinks perhaps the drugs influenced the patient's memory? But still, he had a bruised breastbone. Explain that!
Nonetheless, I've received my fair share of pressure from dentists over the years to have my wisdom teeth extracted, and I somehow got away with avoiding the procedure. It wasn't necessarily stories like this that had me keep my teeth, although that could have been an influence.
The Dental Pressure Mounts
It started in my teens with the dentist I'd seen since I was a child. He gently nudged on a few occasions about having my wisdom teeth removed. Thankfully my mother, who still has her wisdom teeth, ignored his advice.
Then there was the second dentist who made the recommendation about those "pesky" wisdom teeth, which I wouldn't have even known existed, except for hints that they needed to, well, not exist.
This dentist told me my wisdom teeth were impacted in my jawbone, and he referred me to an oral surgeon who wasn't covered by my insurance. At the time, I was in my 20s and living on my own in New York City. I had more fun things to do with my money (like pay rent) than pay to have bad things done to my jaw. I forgot all about it, and quickly.
The third time, I was a sensible adult in my 30s. The dentist told me to have my wisdom teeth removed before he looked at my x-rays. Mull that one over for a moment: before he even laid eyes on them, he decided they needed to come out. Uh wha?
After taking a gander at the film, he decided that the surgery was too risky, as my wisdom teeth were dangerously close to a particular nerve on one side. He retracted the recommendation himself.
The Dental Epiphany
Then there was a fourth dentist. This one was taking down my dental history when he inquired as to the whereabouts of my wisdom teeth. "In my head," I informed him with an edge of possessiveness.
"Good," he said. "If they haven't bothered you by now, they probably won't."
It was like the clouds parted and the sun shone through. All those years of worrying about these sinister teeth lurking about in my skull, just waiting to cause some unknown ... affliction. And poof! Worry abated. Just like that. I immediately felt grateful that I hadn't already put myself though the torture.
After all those years of mental torment over my wisdom teeth, The New York Times reports:
Scientific evidence supporting the routine prophylactic extraction of wisdom teeth is surprisingly scant, and in some countries the practice has been abandoned. "Everybody is at risk for appendicitis, but do you take out everyone's appendix?" said Dr. Greg J. Huang, chairman of orthodontics at the University of Washington in Seattle. "I'm not against removing wisdom teeth, but you should do an assessment and have a good clinical reason."
Numerous comprehensive reviews of research, conducted by independent bodies not affiliated with oral surgeons, have concluded that there was no evidence to support routine prophylactic extraction of impacted but healthy wisdom teeth.
What's the Case for Having Wisdom Teeth Extracted?
Does that mean no one should ever have their wisdom teeth removed? No, but it does mean there should be a good reason to undergo the risks of surgery. Here are valid reasons for the removal of wisdom teeth, from The New York Times article:
The general consensus among critics of routine extraction is that recurrent gum infection, or pericoronitis; irreparable tooth decay; an abscess; cysts; tumors; damage to nearby teeth and bone; or other pathological conditions justify the procedure.
Here's hoping your kids get to hang onto those wisdom teeth.
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