Originally posted by asmeone2
This part of the human body seems to be pretty badly designed!
Why would God design us to have teeth that cause so many problems and are so danged hard to get out?

This is not the work of a deity, but evolution. Clearly, wisdom teeth no longer serve their original purpose. If sufficient selection pressure exists, they could ultimately be bred out of us. If we just learn to live with the problem (i.e., through surgical alteration to minimize the consequences stemming from this maladaptive trait), then wisdom teeth will continue to be a nuisance to all of our descendants!

Pretty interesting question...

i am 26 now and have not had any issues with my wisdom teeth at all...

I wouldn't say I am of "large stature" i'm 5'10 and rather big built..

Is it normal that i haven't had issues with my wisdom teeth ?

From an anthropological standpoint, it's all about the increasing head size among humans.

There is an upper limit on what the human birth canal can possibly pass during childbirth. As the larger part of the cranium gets bigger, babies with smaller jaws are selected for, since they have slightly fewer complications during birth. Then the smaller jaw doesn't have room for all the teeth that primates usually have. These factors are only true across large populations. Many folks never need wisdom teeth removal, or not all four. But over time, the percentage of the pop that needs such surgery is slowly increasing with each generation.

Or at least that was the standard "party line" in physical anthropology a couple of decades ago.

The process is being offset by Caesarian section births, since at that point the size of the head matters much less. On the othe hand, a C-section is much more dangerous than traditional childbirth. But again, every child born by c section is another incremental force on the next generation's children needing ever more c sections.

Now, notice that God doesn't enter into the above issues. Most of the pressures on human birth survivability only came about after the Neolithic improvements to human diet. Only when fetuses get above 6 pounds does it become an issue for the group---and that happens with nomadic pastorialism---herders. (Farmers outside the developing world generally have very poor nutrition).

all the best.

Why its obviously a conspiracy by dentists who went back in time and altered the human dna to produce these useless teeth...thereby guaranteeing them something to do when they returned to the present day and age.

I had all of mine removed when I was around 30...

I've heard that some people have enough room for them to grow without discomfort and some do not.
Just hope to be one of the lucky ones.
Remember to bring it up with your dentist.

Get rid of them if you foresee problems.

I went through hell with a tooth that was crushed and infected thanks to a massive wisdom tooth coming up.

It started with the wisdom tooth crushing the tooth in front of it. I figured it would be ok once that initial crack finally happened and there was no pain.
I let it go.

A while later toothaches started so I went to the dentist to get it removed and BOTCHED REMOVAL. It was infected but they figured they came this far, so finish it. The tooth completely shattered as they went for the grab & knock the bottom to crack it off. My gum was blocked solid with tooth particles which had to be picked out over a couple hours.

The punchline of the procedure is that I was no longer numbed right in the middle of it all and I was already dosed as far as they were willing to go. I had to tough it out a while.

My gum had to be packed and stitched and I was sent back to work to enjoy the beginning of hell. The pain... Oh God the pain...

I ended up sick from pain and left the office to go home and pop something to take the pain away or cool it down. Sure enough the pain subsided by the time I would normally go to sleep.

BANG!@ About an hour before my alarm clock would go off the pain was so intense it woke me. I was in such pain that I dreamed I was shot in the neck. Honestly. And the sound of the shot woke me up but it was obvious the pain did it.

I got a prescription for some dandy pain killers faxed over to the nearest drug store and called my secretary to get her to forward my calls to my cell if someone insists but otherwise I'm going to be stoned out of my mind all day and to warn that I might not be the best to handle anything right now. All was well and I was high as a kite all day and into the night.

The next morning I wake up hearing underwater sounds and I have the worst headache I've ever thought possible without a bullet grazing. While I'm getting up I see the blood on my pillow and feel the hot stuff coming out of my ear and my eye feels like it was buffed with sandpaper in behind. I get to the doctor...

My inner ear/drum erupted and I had "orbital cellulitus" (eye socket infected) all from the goo inside my infected gum.

The doc puts me on 10 days 2x1000mg a day of Ceftin. This medication in just two pills... TWO PILLS CURES gonorrhea and I was getting 20 over 10 days! I knew this was bad and the doc agreed that the only thing to do if this doesn't work is a hospital stay & IV antibiotics. NIGHTMARE! But it goes on!

I spend, on average, 1 hour a day NOT ON THE TOILET to rest some. When I'm not shedding the inner lining of my intestinal tract I'm laying for that one hour of stabbing cramps and YES my first and not my last out of body experiences for the 3 weeks after it all. I was weak, unable to eat out of fear if not excruciating pain and just barely hydrated.

I finally returned to work 32 pounds lighter (I wasn't fat to begin with) and delegating my duties to staff more than ever and only going in every few days for the next month or so till things got back to normal.

All thanks to a wisdom tooth that I was unsure would cause me any trouble.
I still have the wisdom tooth and the wisdom I gained from it. Don't underestimate the SMALLEST infections in the ear / nose / throat area.

[edit on 14-11-2008 by Atlantican]

Im thirty and my fourth wisdom tooth is yet to surface, ive already had one out due to having no room in the back of my mouth.
I noticed that over the last ten years these dam teeth have started to grow for about six weeks and then stop?!
Its such an annoying pain when they are breaking through but I must say when I had mine out it was painless and also pain free afterwards.

I'm 31, I'm 6'3 and I have all 4 of my wisdom teeth. I haven't had them pulled or anything. They were a little sore coming in, my jaw would get sore at times, but overall no problems.

So there could be some truth to bigger people not having the problem.

Just a shot in the dark here, but maybe at 1 time people lost teeth more often. And so when the wisdom tooth came in, it would push the other teeth forward and close in the gap. Pure speculation, no idea if that is even close to being right.



[edit on 14-11-2008 by badmedia]

my beliefs aside, im posting what happened in my fiancee's class in school for naturopathic medicine. One of their paradigms is that the alignment of the human body has a natural use, and when in alignment you are at your optimum health. One of the functions of alignment is to allow "chi" or energy to better flow through your body and provide good health. So to explain this one day in her class, the teacher was explaining that removing the wisdom teeth offsets alignment, and to demonstrate she had a student lift a weight as hard as she could, and the student lifted a certain amount. THEN, the instructor filled the abscess where the students wisdom teeth used to be with her fingers to correct the misalignment due to the extractions, and had the student again lift a weight, and the student was able to lift more weight....the point being that alterations in the natural body throw off the alignment, and weaken or interupt the natural energy of the body resulting in reduced ability.

Similarly, we are finding uses for things doctors used to think useless, as tonsils have been found to have a function in storing and processing out toxins, and the appendix has lately been found to have a function in repopulating the intestinal flora after an infestation such as amoebic dysentery. We come the way god intended, and unless absolutely necessary, should not alter our sacred temple. Just my .02

I guess you could call it a co-incidence, this afternoon I had - a wisdom tooth extracted!

What're the odds?

Brilliant work by the dentist, just a local anaesthetic, worked it loose a bit, then cut it in half and worked each root out in a few minutes.

I've gotta say too: I was impressed with the resolution of their x-ray imaging. Very detailed. Maybe that is a sign of an up to date, competent dentist?

If it were God that gave us Wisdom Teeth I'd think it was because God would want us to be able to think we had a little wisdom in our heads.