Why are wisdom teeth extracted?

[NancyWTucker]

Hi all,

I liked to know why are wisdom teeth extracted? Mine have fully erupted according to the orthodontist and aren't going to get infected but they want to remove these. Why? Out of all the research I have done, all seem to point towards because of diet/they didn't erupt etc...but I am a little suspicious about this. Why are wisdom teeth extracted? Wouldn't they cause relapses? In other words in 10 years time, you'll be back at the orthodontists and have more teeth pulled out and then go through the same process over and over again until you have no teeth remaining and then get fake dentures.

[NancyWTucker]

Anyone?

[raph]

In general, orthodontists and dentists judge whether or not there'll be space for all teeth, and it tends to be that the "normal" age for braces is before wisdom teeth, so I guess dentists don't want to take a chance and have anything that would create crowding in an already tested mouth. When I was a teenager, all my friends who had braces had extractions, it seemed unavoidable and done routinely, but my experience was different.
I only had one wisdom tooth extracted, due to pain 10 years before needed but still had two, both on the left, fully erupted, well aligned with each other, so the orthodontist decided there was no need to remove them. By reading around here, it seems that newer techniques (self ligating braces, etc.) make it easier to avoid extractions.

[NancyWTucker]

raph wrote:
> In general, orthodontists and dentists judge whether or not there'll be
> space for all teeth, and it tends to be that the "normal" age for
> braces is before wisdom teeth, so I guess dentists don't want to take a
> chance and have anything that would create crowding in an already tested
> mouth. When I was a teenager, all my friends who had braces had
> extractions, it seemed unavoidable and done routinely, but my experience
> was different.
> I only had one wisdom tooth extracted, due to pain 10 years before needed
> but still had two, both on the left, fully erupted, well aligned with each
> other, so the orthodontist decided there was no need to remove them. By
> reading around here, it seems that newer techniques (self ligating braces,
> etc.) make it easier to avoid extractions.

Mine have erupted since getting braces and I don't want them extracted otherwise, they'll cause my face to be destroyed. They are not causing me any problems or pain or swelling.

[NancyWTucker]

I also had self aligning braces the daemon braces but I had 2 premolars extracted to remove my sleep apnea. Now they want to extract 3 of my wisdom teeth which I am strongly against since they are not causing any problems.

[vampirefangs22]

There are a few different reasons why wisdom teeth are extracted, but the most common reason is due to them being impacted (since wisdom teeth are the most likely teeth to become impacted due to a lack of space for them to erupt). That's the reason why I had mine extracted on 2/24 and all of them were full bony impactions. Even if they aren't causing problems right now, impacted wisdom teeth may cause problems later on such as damage to the 2nd molars and pericoronitis for partially impacted wisdom teeth. If they aren't impacted, they may still be removed in case a person develops cavities on their 3rd molars.