I’m sure that more than 1/2 of the people here all know what I am talking about. These teeth are the ingrown teeth in the rear of our mouths that tend to cause us a great deal of pain of not removed at an early age. Why do we have these teeth and how come they never fully grow out from beneath our gums to join the rest of the teeth in our mouths?
They’re spares. Get a molar pulled and you’ll find out exactly what they’re for. 
IANADentist, but apparently the ‘wisdom teeth’ harken back to the prehistoric days when we as foragers needed an extra set of grinding teeth to masticate vegetable matter and other unprocessed foods more efficiently.
Our dietary practices in more recent millenia have made the wisdom teeth obsolete, yet they still insist upon making an appearance…either erupting with great pain, or becoming impacted and necessitating removal.
Put it down to evolution. Eventually they won’t exist at all with a bit of luck.
Someone else told me the same thing a long time ago. Your post reinforces it…Thanks 
Not in all cases. This is anecdotal of course, but all 4 of mine came in with absolutely no problems; I don’t remember it hurting at all, and I know that I didn’t see a dentist or anyone else to deal with them coming in.
But with modern medicine removing any negative selective pressure related to having wisdom teeth, I doubt evolution would take care of it. 
Oh well, that’s what genetic engineering is for! 
Hey! I still have all my wisdom teeth, they are a bit wonky but they still earn their living as working teeth.
No dentist has ever suggested yanking them out. Is it normal in the 'States to have them pulled? I’m pretty sure it’s not standard practice over here.
How many people out there have fully working wisdom teeth?
I have all four of mine, they’re lined up and working (last time I went to the dentist the hygenist said “OOOO! You’ve got all your wisom teeth AND you have some gaps between your other teeth - wow, you’ve got a really big jaw!”)
Quite a few dentists have told me to get them pulled, under the theory they might cause trouble later. At which point I suggest not only yanking ALL my teeth out, because “they might cause trouble later on”, but also a prophylactic appendix, spleen, gallbladder and other “useless organ” removal. I don’t know whether it’s because they can charge my insurance or what, but I can’t see the sense in removing healthy teeth that aren’t causing a problem. Then again, these dentists are also the guys pushing whitening treatments and veneers, so go figure.
My current dentist is from the “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” camp, which suits me fine.
For many american college students, removal of ones wisdom teeth is a standard rite of passage. While some have them out because of actual problems, many of us had ours removed because the dentist recommended it. Dentists and oral surgeons commonly suggest that having them out at 18 or 19 is easier and less likely to have complications than having them out later (say at 25). Given that many 18 or 19 year old college students are still on mom and dad’s insurance, which generally covers removal of wisdom teeth, and many 25 year olds are struggling to get a job that will provide health insurance, it is not surprising that they are often removed about the time they come in. Also, I am far from the only one who had a mother who had her wisdom teeth removed one at a time. Mom says that the first one was not much trouble, but the last one about did her in. This made having them all out at once at 18 seem that much more desirable. Of course, the trade off is that a bunch of healthy college students undergo minor but possibly unneccessary surgery with the potential for complications just to avoid what MIGHT be more severe complications later.
Sorry, the above is more opions or based on my experiences than it is verified fact.
While I won’t claim it is my only spelling mistake, I’m embarrassed to realize that the word “opions” in my final line should be “opinions”.
I am 18 and my wisdom teeth have yet to cause me any problems, but I am still young, so who knows the day may yet come.
I never went to the dentist until I was 25 (my mother, who says she should have known better, never liked to go, so she didn’t make us). When I had a real molar break apart, I finally caved and went (lucky me, besides the broken tooth, which required a root canal and a crown, I only had a few minor cavities and no gum/tartar problems). When they took my history/story, they were surprised I had not had any pain/problems with wisdom teeth. Then the X-rays came back, and the reason was obvious: I never had any wisdom teeth to begin with. The dentist said it was uncommon, but not unheard of. Is it actually becoming more common that people never develop wisdom teeth?
Yes. Personally, I think my jaw wasn’t going to be big enough to hold 'em, so I had mine out. No problems on my end, anyway. I did fine.
I doubt it. Absent any pressure not to have wisdom teeth, the frequency is unlikely to change significantly.
None of mine hurt. There are small gaps between three of my WT and the molars in front of them, and only one seems like it might cause trouble (could its pushing move my teeth all closer to the wt on the other side of my jaw? There’s a nice gap there). They are crooked to hell and back, tho - both top rub on the inside of my cheeks pretty badly because of the angle.
They told me I’d need to have my wt removed, but I moved out on my own a week after my 18th birthday, and thus no insurance. I might go to Syrex to get them yanked for the moola they give you, once I move back to Austin.
My dad told me that someone in his family (I think a much older cousin of mine, but I’m not positive) actually ended up getting 6 wt removed. Two sets from the top, one set on the bottom. Crazy.
I had mine removed in college because they were hurting a lot and cramming all my teeth together. The surgery was simple and my teeth finally all moved back to where they should be.
Suspiciously, neither of my siblings nor my dad had their wisdom teeth grow in at all and my mom had only two come in. So I don’t know if it is really that common to have them; I know a lot of people who have not had them come in. I think I am in the minority.
My wisdom teeth came in without any problems, and there’s plenty of space. They also put in an early appearance, as they started to come in when I was about 12.
I’m 49, got all four of mine. No fillings in them, though I do have some in other molars. Never had any problem with them.
Clearly we need to breed Lambo to a non-wisdom teeth bearing member of jeevwoman’s family to help encourage the evolutionary process.
My wife’s dentist advised her to have her bottom 2 wisdom teeth pulled about 5 years ago, and she didn’t (no insurance). So now they have become impacted and have grown in perpindicular to her other teeth - which means the oral surgeon will have to put her under complete anesthesia, drill through her jaw bones, cut the offending teeth in half, and extract them piece by piece. Ouch, ouch ouch.
I’ve always thought the wisdom teeth were nature’s answer to teeth lost to decay in early adulthood. Some species of animals grow new molar teeth throughout life, or else the teeth continue to grow all through life (I think elephants count in this category). I mean, think how convenient it would be if you lost a few teeth to decay or injury in young adulthood, and along came another set of teeth for eating with?
Of course, mine screwed up years of orthodontic work, before I had them pulled out. Le sigh.