News

Let’s face it, wisdom teeth are something that us humans have come to dread. In fact

according to EZ Teether, as much as90% of all UK 20 year old’shave at least one wisdom

tooth that hasn’t erupted at all, or has erupted partially. So this begs the question…why

would we be given teeth that cause us so many problems? Well, the answer goes way back

to our ancestors.

Needless to say our earliest ancestors had a totally different diet. Rather than cooked fish

meat, vegetables and the occasional pizza, they were living on raw meat, nuts, roots and

berries. They didn’t have the luxury of using knives to cut and prepare food or heat to cook

them. As such, chewing these foods sufficiently enough for digestion needed broader jaws

and stronger molars and therefore third molars – more commonly known as wisdom teeth –

were vital for our ancestors to be able to survive.

As the larger jaw was common in ancient people these third molars could easily be

accommodated as it allowed them to erupt in the jaw naturally. Wisdom teeth were so

important to our ancestors that without them, it’s possible a person could die. In fact, a

skeleton unearthed in Kenya in 1984 was dated to be approximately 1.6 million years old. He

was a relatively young man and the cause of death was thought to be in part because his

wisdom teeth hadn’t erupted properly and therefore he hadn’t been able to digest food

properly.

Fast forward a million or so years to our present day and our diet plays a very big part in the

non-reliance on our wisdom teeth. Nowadays we cut, dice, boil, steam or bake pretty much

everything we eat. This lengthy food prep ritual has made the action of chewing and eating,

a pretty easy experience. Experts believe that over thousands of years of evolution, our jaws

have naturally become smaller due to our diet and the way we prepare and cook foods. As

such, there isn’t much room in the modern-day jaw to accommodate our 32 teeth including

our third molars – and this is the reason why our wisdom teeth cause us so many problems.

What problems can wisdom teeth cause?

One of the main issues of modern-day wisdom teeth is that because there is limited space in

the jaw, when they do erupt they can undermine or crowd many of the adjacent teeth

causing further problems.

On other occasions wisdom teeth don’t fully erupt because they’re blocked by the existing

teeth and therefore become impacted. Even in patients where wisdom teeth do manage to

grow, dentists may suggest that in some instances, third molars are extracted for better long

term health. In many cases everyday oral care of wisdom teeth can prove difficult because

they’re located so far back in the mouth. Therefore keeping them free from plaque and

bacteria is a tricky task at the best of time.​