# Poll: Do you have wisdom teeth? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2005, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689 "2005-08-05T07:19:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sarah\_Woodruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sarah\_Woodruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarah_Woodruff)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/1 "2005-08-05T07:19:49Z")
…still in the gums? Or fully erupted? And how many do you have? How old were you when they started appearing? Me, I have three, but they’re still sitting in my gums. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/2 "2005-08-05T07:36:05Z")
Three are out and about, one is shy. The lower right molar never made an entrance. I was half-way through high school when they came in, sort of. Also, my dentist ain’t gettin’ his hands on any of them, until something’s actually wrong. Preventative extraction, hah! That sadist just wants _teak_ decks on his yacht.\* \*[sup]Actually he’s the nicest man you’ll ever meet. I just get irrational when it comes to tooth pulling.[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/3 "2005-08-05T08:45:16Z")
I USED to have four wisdom teeth. I had them yanked when I was 16 or so, all four were impacted and giving me fits. My mother said that I never had much trouble with teething when I was a baby, but I more than made up for it when I was a teen. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/4 "2005-08-05T08:50:09Z")
Had my bottom ones taken out when I was 16, but the tops have been coming in at an odd angle for, oh, 3 or 4 years (I’m 24). The left one seems to be fully erupted; the right one is still giving it the old college try. Yep, need to go to the dentist, it’s feeling a tad crowded. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/5 "2005-08-05T09:13:02Z")
All removed in 1977 when I was 17. By a criminal dentist (I may have mentioned this before) - he’d just been released from prison having served 2 years for fraud. His technique had suffered a bit while in the Scrubs… ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/6 "2005-08-05T09:15:01Z")
1st one - top left - came in at just after 21 (about 5 months ago). 2nd one - bottom left - is coming in now. It HURTSES preciousss… And nasty taste. Nasty. Something’s infected. And did I mention it hurts? :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/7 "2005-08-05T09:31:56Z")
Lucky me, I had 6 of them, all fully erupted, all removed when I was 25, in less than half an hour, under local aneasthetic. My dentist is a wizard. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/8 "2005-08-05T09:33:52Z")
My mum’s had to have a couple of her molars removed, because her wisdom teeth were crowding her mouth, but their roots were that deep they’d tangled into her sinuses and the dentist just couldn’t remove them. That’s scary. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/9 "2005-08-05T09:37:47Z")
I have all mine. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/10 "2005-08-05T09:52:53Z")
Obviously I’m a bit of a late starter, 34 and still waiting ! Although I think there may be something going on bottom left … it runs in the family I remember my Mum’s coming thro’ and she’s almost 40 years older than me 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/11 "2005-08-05T09:56:14Z")
Have all four fully erupted. Must have come in around 17 or 18, don’t remember that well because they didn’t cause me any problems. Still don’t cause me any problems Hope they never do. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/12 "2005-08-05T10:14:26Z")
I had two up top which were removed, although I have no real recollection of when or why. I had no bottom wisdom teeth, a fact my orthodontist somehow missed for two years despite having multiple sets of x-rays clearly showing the lack of lower wisdom teeth, leaving a bottom retainer cemented to my teeth for far longer than it was necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/13 "2005-08-05T10:34:32Z")
All four taken out when I was 17. My father, as well as my niece, were born without any wisdom teeth. Lucky. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/14 "2005-08-05T11:04:10Z")
My brother’s father-in-law has just had his taken out. He’s 82, you know. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/15 "2005-08-05T11:40:29Z")
I had the two on the left side extracted. The two on the right are still in, plus allegedly a bonus tooth somewhere beneath one of the two remaining. I wish I’d just had all four removed way back when, since the last two have caused one of my sharper (that fang like tooth) to just out, and it can tend to bite into my soft tissue. Plus they aren’t really used for anything and hard to brush/floss. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/16 "2005-08-05T11:46:36Z")
Haven’t heard nary a peep out of them for over 22 years. But just the other day it looked like my two bottom ones were starting to oh so slowly peak their heads out. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/17 "2005-08-05T11:59:24Z")
I have two of the four. All four came in when I was around 18, it wasn’t painful. In my 20s, I started having problems with the teeth on the left, and my dentist removed them. He cautioned me that all signs pointed to the fact that I would soon start having problems with the right, but he advised that we should wait to remove the right teeth. His thinking was that at least I could chew on the right side of my mouth while I was waiting for the left side to heal. So it’s been 10 years now, and I’ve never had any problems with the right wisdom teeth. Every once in a while I ponder this, and in a weird way, it bothers me. My head feels sort of uneven. Of course, it really _doesn’t_ feel uneven, but it’s one of those things where if I think on it too long, I start believing that one side of my head feels ever so slightly heavier than the other. It does not, however, bother me enough to go through the extraction (and possibly more to the point, PAY for the extraction) of two teeth that aren’t causing any trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fromage_A_Trois)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/18 "2005-08-05T12:10:30Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Lucky me, I had 6 of them… What? I have my top two, which I think I’ve had since I was 16… the bottom two clearly can’t be bothered - I’m now nearly 25. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/19 "2005-08-05T12:26:47Z")
All four. In working order with no cavities. For decades. ---
**Author:** ![Poonther](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Poonther](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poonther)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689/20 "2005-08-05T12:27:53Z")
I only had 3 wisdom teeth and all three were impacted and removed some years ago. It was really no big deal. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-wisdom-teeth/315689.md?page=2)