Wisdom teeth, also known as third molars, commonly appear in our late teens or early twenties and may require removal if they create difficulties. The issue that remains is, why do we have these wisdom teeth in the first place if they are so frequently removed? Continue reading to learn about some of the probable causes for why wisdom teeth exist and why they are often pulled in the modern day.
Teeth From The Prehistoric Time
To understand why we originally needed a third pair of molars, we must go back millions of years to a time when humans were still in their early phase and hadn’t yet formed the modern characteristics we have today.
Humans subsisted on a raw hunter-gatherer diet of rough vegetables, nuts, and meat during this prehistoric period. These menu items would have taken a lot of chewing in comparison to the comparatively mushy, prepared meals that we presently consume. A random gene mutation caused our jaws to become substantially smaller at some time in our past. It’s still unknown why the mutation stuck – it may have been advantageous to create a place for the larger brains that were emerging, or it could have had anything to do with the transition to cooked food.
Modern Times And Wisdom Teeth
Wisdom tooth extraction is now a pretty frequent operation that many people go through in their early life. Our narrower jaws, for whatever reason, have meant that many of us just don’t have enough room for wisdom teeth to come in correctly, resulting in them being impacted. Nine out of ten people have impacted wisdom teeth, which means they are lodged below the surface of the gums and place pressure on the jaw and other teeth.
However, some people do not actually have all four wisdom teeth, and others do not get any at all, prompting experts to question if they may vanish forever. Until that happens, many of us will have to have wisdom teeth out. Make an appointment with Champion Dental to learn more about the wisdom teeth extraction procedure.