Is It Necessary to Extract Wisdom Teeth?

Wisdom teeth are the last teeth to come through during the late teens or early 20s. They are your third molars and are a throwback to a time when humans used to eat a much harder diet, requiring much more chewing. Nowadays, we don’t need these third molars, but it is nice to have additional teeth, provided they can come through normally.

Unfortunately, when they come through there is often insufficient room for wisdom teeth to erupt normally. As a result, they may overcrowd existing teeth, or will try to come up underneath the adjacent teeth and are regarded as being impacted. Some wisdom teeth will only partially erupt, remaining partly covered by gum tissue. When wisdom teeth partly erupt they are more at risk of becoming decayed and infected because they are so difficult to keep clean.

Not all wisdom teeth will have problems erupting and many will come through perfectly normally. We prefer to take a “wait-and-see” approach to the development of these teeth, regularly monitoring their position and development in your jaws with digital dental x-rays. We will only recommend their removal if it’s clear your wisdom teeth cannot erupt normally and are at risk of damaging your existing teeth.