All 4 or mine want to come in. Now do I have to get them removed or is it a ploy by the dentist to make money.
I wish I knew what was up with them. I had all of mine removed and I shore don’t feel no dumer.
My dentist pulled mine out when I was in my early twenties. If I recall, one or two had cavities and instead of drilling & filling them, he recommended that I just have them extracted because:
- They were so far in the back of the mouth that it’s hard to keep them clean.
- Because they are so hard to keep clean, they’ll probably get cavities and eventaually need to be crowned.
- We don’t use them much for chewing anyway.
#3 just seems wrong to me, I mean if I had molars back there and I put food in my mouth and chew it, some of the food would certainly get chewed by those teeth.
By this reasoning of #1 & 2, why not have all my teeth removed and just wear dentures? Well I guess he was trying to say that the wisdom teeth are more prone to needing serious orthodontic or surgical attention later in life, so it’s best to just pull them out now.
Don’t know if this line of reasoning is still true today, but at the time my dentist seemed like the authority on the matter.
That’s the beauty of reducing somebody else’s intelligence. Everybody can see it but the subject 
I’ll be 33 next month and still have my wisdom teeth. As long as yours don’t cause any problems (e.g. pain, crowding the other teeth, etc.), I say keep 'em.
Wisdom teeth are evolutionary “leftovers” from when the hominid jaw was larger. This can cause problems in some people when those last four molars don’t fit into their modern human jaw. They impact on the teeth that are already present and cause a lot of pain, not to mention knocking the alignment of the extant teeth out of whack in some cases.
Some people never have a problem with the wisdom teeth. They come in just fine and there’s no pain. If this is the case, they probably don’t need to be removed. I wouldn’t have them done unless you start to have pain from them.
Personally, mine impacted so bad it felt like my jaws were being squeezed in a vise. They were all extracted, as soon as possible.
jayjay
Hey Attrayant! 
One of mine had to come out because of a partial cavity years ago, and a crown was put in its place. A few weeks ago, though, the crown came out while I was chewing gum. Now, I was of the opinion that I didn’t need to worry too much about that tooth, since it was, after all, wayyyyyyy in the back, wasn’t used much for chewing, and was tough to clean. But of course everyone I talked to disagreed, and I did have the crown put back on. But if they’re so surefire goshdarn important, why do people get 'em removed?
My dentist recommended all four of mine be taken out in late high school because, he said, my mouth wouldn’t have enough space for them (YMMV). Instead, I kept delaying it until just after college. By that point, the wisdom teeth had emerged and settled at all sorts of weird angles in order to make space in my mouth. The result was that I’d often end up biting the inside of my rear cheeks (not a pleasant surprise), and my lower right canine was forced out of whack (causing more unpleasant accidental biting of the lip), as well as mis-aligning all my upper and lower front teeth - and this, all continuing to happen even after I finally got them removed. I’ve always been told I have nice teeth (never had any cavities or need for braces before), and now I’m a bit annoyed with the rampant chaos and plate tectonics-like shifting going on in my jaw.
If you have the money/insurance, I’d say it’s worth it. Mine were relatively easy to extract - just some local anasthetic (I was awake the whole time and kept my eyes closed to disassociate myself from the context, and all I felt was a bunch of tugging, and heard some occasionally disconcerting cracking :), but hardly any pain). Whole thing took about an hour, recovery about two weeks.
Ach, if only I had known how easy it’d be…
I only had to get my top two wisdom teeth extracted. The bottom two never existed, proving that I am evolving into a superior life form.
However, the top two grew in at a 90-degree angle (or so it seemed), so I had them yanked. My dentist said I needed oral surgery so I went under. My father drove me to the office. I asked him how long I was gone. He said it was about five minutes.
My father had all four of his wisdom teeth grow in and they are perfectly aligned and have never bothered him.
Aside from being the most frequently congenitally absent teeth (fairly convenient when that happens), the third molars tend to become impacted fairly frequently. Teeth begin developing pointing in the opposite direction from what we’re accustomed to - the crowns are pointing up on your upper jaw, and down on your lower jaw. The problem with this is that sometimes the teeth don’t completely rotate into the proper position. If they wind up facing a little off-course, they might be pressing into your second molar - ouch! That’s an impacted molar, and it can be a complete nightmare. My dental info is largely based on Schwartz, 1994: “Skeleton Keys”.
Luckily, the third molar is (generally) the smallest molar, and has the poorest root formation. It isn’t too hard for the dentist to pluck out, and sometimes (I think) dentists are just taking them out as a moneymaking/precautionary measure. It depends on how much you trust your dentist - does he treat you well? If he’s a good dentist, he’s probably not trying to screw you. If you’re covered by some kind of dental plan, it may be a good idea to go with it. As Saxman mentioned, you might be better off in the long run without them. Colgate smile and all that, y’know. 
FD.
In reply to the OP about being a money making ploy: My personal anecdote, FWIW.
About 18 years ago, my old dentist showed my my xrays, pointed out how my two as yet unerupted wisdom teeth were impacted and I should have them extracted. Since I wasn’t having any problems I ignored him. Years go by, new dentist. A few years ago, one of them started to erupt and I asked about it. I thought it was impacted. The dentist showed me my xrays and neither were at all impacted. Not even touching the other teeth or out of alignment. That was interesting.
Yes, I’m well over nn and still have one more wisdom tooth yet to erupt.
I think there are definitely some dentists out there to make a fast buck.
I had several dentists tell my parents when I was young to save up for braces because I would desparately need them. Never did. Although a lot of people assume I did, because my teeth are very straight.
I’ve had several dentists tell me to get the wisdom teeth pulled, even though mine came in with no problem, are lined up with everything else, and so on. When I asked for a rationale to pull perfectly healthy, functional teeth I got the “hard to keep clean” line, the “they go bad eventually” line, “and you’ll be sorry by 30” line. Well, 36 and counting, no cavities, apparently no problem keeping 'em clean, and still useful. My current dentist has no problem with me keeping the little beggars as long as they aren’t being a problem.
My dad kept his until his late 60’s, by the way, and they weren’t the first teeth he lost, either.
I don’t buy the “just in case” bit - by that rationale I should also have appendix, spleen, tonsils, and other assorted bits removed “just in case”. If they ain’t causin’ a problem and you can keep 'em clean why yank 'em? Just doesn’t make sense. Now, if you’re having a problem with 'em, that’s different.
When they get removed, do the other ones move and spread out to take their place?
Never grew any wisdom teeth.
I only got one taken out cause I was chewing myself & the dentist didn’t ask to take the others.
Strange, though, why don’t a new tooth grow in afterwards?
Too bad I’m not one of the fortunate ones to have no wisdom teeth coming in. I don’t have dental insurance, and so far they’re only painful once in a while… however, one of my permenent teeth decided not to form. My dentist was surprised by my x-rays when I was small, but my mother wasn’t; she didn’t get the same tooth. I hate my teeth.
My bottom ones came in fine but they were soft because they were buried until I was 15 or so and easy to miss when brushing, so both got cavities and crumbled and then I had them out.
My top ones come and go. Right now both of them are out, and I could use them for chewing if they had a matching pair on the bottom.
I had a fifth wisdom tooth (& when I had it pulled, I went home & had another fifth)… I must have been extra special smart…
Or a shark.
I had all four removed right before my senior year of HS [18 - two months]. I had randomly asked my dentist about them, because neither of my parents or siblings had them show until they were in their mid '20s. He took an X-ray and omigod, not only were they fairly close to erupting, they were absolutely enormous as wisdom teeth go. The roots were also unnervingly close to the big nerve that runs down both sides of the jaw towards the chin. So, I had them removed to protect the nerve and to prevent obvious crowding.
Sidenote: They were so large, the dental surgeon who performed the surgery had to break two of them to get them out.