I've always wondered, why do we have wisdom teeth, if they just end up being pulled out? Did they serve a purpose at some point?

''Anthropologists believe wisdom teeth, or the third set of molars, were the evolutionary answer to our ancestor’s early diet of coarse, rough food – like leaves, roots, nuts & meats – which required more chewing power & resulted in excessive wear of the teeth. The modern diet with its softer foods, along with marvels of modern technologies such as forks, spoons & knives, has made the need for wisdom teeth nonexistent. As a result, evolutionary biologists now classify wisdom teeth as vestigial organs, or body parts that have become function less due to evolution.''

Wisdom teeth used to serve a useful purpose, but r now considered vestigial organs. A vestige is a degenerative or imperfectly formed organ or structure having little or no utility, but in the earlier stage of development of a species performed a useful function. The reasons that wisdom teeth r now ''outdated'' r many. Until quite recently, our diet included mostly very coarse food, as well as impurities such as dirt & sand. This coarseness would abrade teeth so significantly that they would take up less space in the jaw. Permanent teeth were also frequently lost at an early age, which would create more space in the jaw. Because the diet was so coarse & hard to chew, the jaw itself would develop into a larger bone because of this constant workout. All of these factors would create more space for the wisdom teeth when they came in.

The heavily processed diet of today does not produce the tooth abrasion or jaw development that we used to see. Modern dentistry has pretty much eliminated significant loss of permanent teeth at an early age. This leaves us with too many teeth & not enough jaw. The wisdom teeth still develop as they always have, but they have no where to go. When this happens, the teeth r considered ''impacted,'' meaning that they r not in normal position & function.


Impacted wisdom teeth

Besides serving no useful function, the impacted teeth will often cause damage because they cannot be cleaned properly & can collect food debris, bacteria & plaque around them. This can result in tooth decay, gum disease, infection & abscess of not only the wisdom teeth, but of the molars next door & of the surrounding gum tissue. The molars in front of the wisdom teeth r sometimes lost because of cavities & gum disease caused by the inability to clean the wisdom teeth properly. Cyst formation & other destructive pathology r also seen around impacted wisdom teeth.


Cavities caused by poor cleaning around wisdom teeth


Cyst forming around wisdom tooth

If removal of the wisdom teeth is indicated, the procedure is recommended in the late teenage years, before the roots r completely formed. Surgical procedures in general r better tolerated when one is young & healthy, & the gum tissues tend to heal better & more predictably when young. Most people experience minimal disruption of their normal routines, & time off from work or school is usually minimal.