Wisdom teeth

[richard-af]

Eight Wisdom teeth?

Yep! All grown into one another. Not one has ever broken through.

[scooterscot]

Must be the breeding...

30 something and never a problem.

[Not So Wise]

Due to grinding my teeth mine were wore down and cracked, had two top ones pulled about 2 years ago in London, one was fine other hurt like hell due to an exposed nerve (reason went in first place) and the Dentist crushing the tooth into a million peices.

Had bottom two done this year in eastern Europe, barely any pain and only took maybe 20 mins to complete, with most of that time waiting for the aesthetic to kick in

Recovery was fast and painless each time and barely notice they are gone now

[TimberWolf]

Finally...

I have got to the root of a toothy problem that has been giving me jip for the last couple of years. Impacted wisdom tooth, plus cyst.

What this means is that my wisdom tooth, which never did emerge from under the gum, is pointing at a crazy angle and impacting another tooth's roots, and so for the first time in my life I am needing to be touched by the medical profession. Looks like I've lost a bit of jaw bone where the cyst has set up residence too, and will need surgery and a General Anaesthetic to extract the tooth.

I had been secretly blaming my last dentist for creating a problem for which he would no doubt have charged handsomely to resolve, but having seen the X-ray, all my fillings are shallow and it must just have been coincidence that my tooth started hurting subsequent to having a filling. I haven't been able to chew on that side for a couple of years and have been waiting for symptoms to get better or worse and having dentists say they can't see anything. Apart from a Polish chap who said he would charge £150 but wouldn't do any big jobs on the NHS. Luckily I never darkened his surgery again.

Anyway, I eventually found an NHS dentist who also didn't see anything when she first looked, but she did kindly set up an appointment with the dental hospital so that I might be practised on by the students. But, as it takes months to set up an appointment, in the meantime my symptoms worsened (pain even when not chewing and the development of what appeared to be a swollen gland but was the cyst), so I went back, and this time she spotted it. For a tooth x-Ray, followed by another machine that revolves around your head shooting out X-rays all over the place, plus a nice chat, I was charged the princely sum of £17.50. Compared to £zillions with my old dentist for a polish. Still, I suppose he may not be quite the evil money grabbing NHS leaching bastard that I had him out to be. Well not the former adjective anyway, maybe.

Still only at diagnosis stage, but is a major toothy leap forward for me.

[escapeUK]

I had the top two removed a couple of years ago, and today I'm having the first of the bottom two removed.

Final proof of the non-existence of God? There can't be any intelligent design behind this.

Wasnt the idea that by the time they come out you'd have lost most of your other teeth, so you could still eat with these?

[Paddy]

I had the top two removed a couple of years ago, and today I'm having the first of the bottom two removed.

Final proof of the non-existence of God? There can't be any intelligent design behind this.

There is probably a very good reason for wisdom teeth. As an engineering design it makes sense to have a non functioning tooth at the end in order to keep the molars rigid in place.

[VectraMan]

There is probably a very good reason for wisdom teeth. As an engineering design it makes sense to have a non functioning tooth at the end in order to keep the molars rigid in place.

But if they stick up through your face and cause you no end of pain, that's a bit of a flaw in engineering terms. And anyway, the human body wasn't meant to survive long enough for the rest of your teeth to fall out.

Nearly five years since I started this thread. Doesn't time fly when you have no wisdom teeth.

[bless 'em all]

Homo Sapiens has a shorter jaw than our forebears (sorry God). Our teef have yet to catch onto the idea that there's not the room there used to be.

Evolution would have eventually sorted it out, but dentists are now pulling the beggers out rather than letting pain & infection cull the worse cases.

The idea that they're 'subs' for when your other molars fall out is not really holding up, as tooth decay only really took off when sugar became readily available.

I've kept all mine ... but then I have the face of a Neanderthal.

[TimberWolf]

But if they stick up through your face and cause you no end of pain, that's a bit of a flaw in engineering terms. And anyway, the human body wasn't meant to survive long enough for the rest of your teeth to fall out.

Nearly five years since I started this thread. Doesn't time fly when you have no wisdom teeth.

I don't think our ancestors had the scale of tooth problems that we see today as their diet was different, and possibly because they died earlier too as you say.

Having read up a little on the scale of wisdom teeth problems this evening, I'm inclined to say 'whip em out when you're young'. Troublesome useless beggers that they be.

[mudskipper]

Had all mine out when I was 17. They had to chip away the jaw bone to get to them. Woke up with tampons in my mouth. Threw up. Cried. Went home looking like a hamster with mumps - seriously never seen swelling like it. Jaw and neck turned black over the next few days. Three weeks later the bruising was green, and I think after about two months it was no longer noticeable. Twenty five years later I still have a pocket in my gum where bits of food get caught.

Apart from that it was a doddle.

Good luck with it!