At 63 I still have mine!
Age 25 or so, I asked when will I get them…Yougot 'em, he said. If they present no problem, keep 'em!
My bottom wisdom teeth never existed for me, so I’ve only got the top pair. Unfortunately, they are jutting down below the other top teeth, so I’ll probably get them pulled within a few years.
–It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats.
Clearly, you’ve never had a root canal.
Like Yoosmight hehe er Yosemite, I too was having problems with an infection. I had all 4 taken out by a doc of maxiofac…whatever rather than the dentist.
It wasn’t so bad for me, I woke up talking to the doc and my father with cotton and gauze in my mouth (they couldn’t understand a word I was saying) laughing their asses off over my inablility to pronouce a word. My father went to high school with the guy so I am sure it was funnier to them as old high school chums rather standard doc/patient.
I got home that afternoon feeling fine. The demi-percodans I had made me sick which bummed me out, I was hoping for some fun drugs. But I hardly had any pain. I just remember the stitches and how weird it felt on my tongue.
If your dentist feels that you should have them removed and you haven’t had any problems, you might consider a second opinion. At least this way you are reassured of your gut feeling or not.
BTW, I wont even have a flu shot, I am the biggest wuss when it comes to things like that. So if anyone has to have it done, I am one that had a good experience with it…I also had the doc knock me out totally.
10, 9, 8 and I was out like a light.
A new periodical, Clinical Evidence, published the British Medical Journal Publishing Group and the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, addresses wisdom teeth in its first issue. According to Clinical Evidence (“A compendium of the best available evidence for effective health care”), the prophylactic removal of asymptomatic impacted wisdom teeth is “likely to be ineffective or harmful.”
I was unfortunate enough to inherit my dad’s mouth. My lower jaw is too small for my upper jaw, so I have a severe overbite, a cross bite, joint problems, crooked teeth, the works. 
Plus I had four impacted wisdom teeth that would never be able to fit in with all the rest of my teeth. So they yanked 'em.
– Sylence
If a bird doesn’t sing, I’ll wait until it sings.
- Tokugawa Ieyasu
I’ve had problems with a couple of my top front teeth. They’re baby teeth that never had any adults come in behind them, now they’re wearing down. Eventually they’ll have to come out.
Got one Wisdom yanked last year after the dentist found a cavity there. He said he could fill it or I could have it yanked (by someone else), he recommended yanking it because eventually it would probably get another cavity. Went to the recommended oral surgeon. In and out in 15 minutes with no pain and cost of just over $100, less than the cost of a normal cleaning with X-rays at my regular dentist.
My recommendation, find a dentist you trust and take his word for it.
He used another name during his “Tour of Terror” swing through Minnesota. He would cram a hard rubber wedge in little kids’ jaws so they couldn’t close their mouths (or bite the sadistic bastard) and then just get to drillin’–no novocaine. I’ve despised dentists ever since.
THAT’S why the dentist I go to now gives me valium. I make an appointment, he gives me a scrip. I gobble a couple pills an hour or so before the appointment, and I’m almost anxiety-free. Almost.
Yes, I even get valium for teeth cleaning. (I’d take it for X-rays if they’d give it to me.)
I’ve recommended my dentist to friends, and they seem to like him, too.
Better living through chemistry.
Wisdom teeth extraction: circumcision of the mouth.
I had problems with ONE of my top ones about three years ago. Jaw popping, pain, headaches, grinding, the whole bit. Got the x-rays. First dentist said all of the buggers had to come out. Fluck you, said I.
Second dentist looked at the same x-rays. Popped the troublesome bugger in about 10 seconds and put it in a jar for me. He also got the rest of the work I needed done, and he did it well. Too bad he’s since lost his license for fraud.
Dee da dee da dee dee do do / Dee ba ditty doh / Deedle dooby doo ba dee um bee ooby / Be doodle oodle doodle dee doh http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/
I’m with Athena on this one.
All 4 of my wisdom teeth came in just fine. The only effect I noticed was I couldn’t pull splinters or nip thread with my incisors anymore.
I recently had one pulled for decay; in my case the dentist was correct in that it is harder to get a brush back there.
I told him he could have the rest if and as they cause problems, but until then, they’re mine!
So, 23 years and counting. At this rate, I won’t have the last one out 'til I’m 109! Woohoo!
VB
The ways of cats and little girls are mysterious.
I only had two of my wisdom teeth removed. Does that make me a half-wit? 
When danger reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled
raises hand
My wisdom teeth started coming in when I was 14 years old. One managed to barely poke out of the gums. It was the least angled of the four. The rest, according to some neat-looking dental x-rays, were coming in damn near sideways. I got them yanked about three or four months after my 14th birthday. Ended up taking exactly one-half of a Percocet for the pain. I lived on Campbell’s Chunky soup and ice cream for a few days, which I didn’t really mind at all, and then life returned to normal.
“Buffalo Bills? Oh, yeah. The guys that always snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.” --WallyM7
My dentist told me over twenty years ago that my wisdom teeth were coming in crooked, and that I should have them removed because:
A. They are going to make all the rest of your teeth go crooked.
B. They’ll be nothing but trouble.
Every dentist since has told me the same thing. As far as I’m concerned, it’s all BS.
Yeah, so what, they came in crooked, (pointing at an angle forward in the bottom, fine in the top) they haven’t caused me significant problems, besides being a little difficult to reach while brushing/flossing (but the water pik does just fine).
I’ve always considered it a way for them to pad their pockets, since they’ve lost business to fluoridation and better dental hygiene.
I figure they’ll last me another 25-30 years, and then I won’t care. BTW, I’ve never had problem with cavities either (only had 2 or 3).
I can’t imagine why you should have your wisdom teeth removed if they aren’t bothering you. Although I have a suspicion that w.t. are more likely than others to make trouble, and dentists may be trying to save you from agony later on down the line.
Mine grew in when I was twelve or so, and didn’t bother me at all until I was sixteen, when they got infected. I’m not sure if all four of them were, but goddamn, did it hurt! Eating actually made me cry, it hurt so much. So I had all four of them removed. I have to say, even after the anasthaesia wore out, it didn’t hurt that much. I was given vicodin, but I only took it a couple times. It definitely felt better after I had them out than before.
~Harborina
Along these lines, how about the teeth x-rays the dentists always want one to get during an exam? Just in case. In case of what? I figure when there’s a problem, then we’ll deal with it. Seems the exposure to the cranial area would be more risky! Aside from regular cleaning and check ups, I’m not really convinced how much preventive dentistry can accomplish, if anything.
Okay, here’s my two cents. My top two wisdoms came in fine, had no problams, yada, yada… Then, last summer, when my lower left was on its way, I had terrible, excruciating pain. My dentist said it just needed “a little extra space,” and off I went to the oral surgeon to have my gum sliced a little (I know, that’s gross). So I get to the Oral surgeon, and he says that my mouth is too small and the tooth needs to come out. He suggested that I just have all three pulled (I don’t have a fourth one…lucky me). He said that even though the uppers didn’t hurt NOW, they could, conceivably cause unbelievable, crippling pain in one year, or possibly as many as 30 years from now. So, I figured, as long as I was undergoing a painful procedure ANYWAY, I may as well go the whole nine yards. So, in my opinion (I could have gotten directly to my point a while ago, but you’d have been deprived of my little story) I think that if you don’t have any problems at all, just keep them. But if you have any problems with any of them and one needs to be pulled, just have them all yanked.
Why bother getting your wisdom teeth pulled? This is a great question from a history buff perspective. History is very alive and fascinating. North America has seen amazingly great social progress over the last fifty years and dental care is a little noticed area that has contributed a lot to making our lives better.
A lot of you boomers out there will remember your parents’ dentures. It was pretty normal in the earlier twentieth century for most adults to be shopping for dentures by the time they were in their thirties and people went for years without visiting a dentist. Austin Powers’ rotten teeth made fun of the era of less dental care.
Go back earlier in history and people’s teeth literally killed them. Rotting teeth poison your body and create all kinds of health problems.
Wisdom teeth do tend to rot and dentists, in their war against tooth disease, jump at the chance to pull them for the patient’s own benefit. Who knows when that person will be back to a dentist?
Dopers can be assumed to be generally affluent (relatively), internet accessing, intelligent people who routinely go to their dentists for regular treatment and check-ups and could therefore retain their wisdom teeth until a genuine problem develops. Remember there are still a lot of poor people out there with no employee dental plans or spare cash and a visit to the dentist is a terrible expense. I’ve known people who couldn’t afford to go to the dentist. In that case, removal of the wisdom teeth would be economical and a healthy thing to do. The alternative is to wait until the wisdom teeth decay and cause enough pain and health problems that there is no alternative but to go for medical treatment.
The dentist doesn’t really know who’s poor (or going to be poor soon) but he does know the misery caused by rotting wisdom teeth so the smart and conservative thing to do is to catch people while they are in his/her chair and talk them into getting them out.