The wisdom teeth are considered a vestigial body part, meaning they are no longer useful to the body. Rather, like the tailbone, they are a relic from a bygone era. Below, we cover four reasons to have all four wisdom teeth removed.
The majority of people still have wisdom teeth erupt despite this impracticality. And because those teeth might lead to issues with one’s dental health, the majority of these people will eventually need to have those teeth extracted.
Four Reasons to Have All Four Wisdom Teeth Removed
This tutorial describes the ideal age to undergo this sensitive procedure if you need to have your wisdom teeth removed or if you’re just curious about what it entails.
What Are Wisdom Teeth?
Wisdom teeth are a set of teeth located in the back of the mouth. The reason these teeth receive their name is that they typically erupt into the jaw in late adolescence or early adulthood. Wisdom teeth are the last and third molars in the back of the mouth.
A wisdom tooth is an example of a vestigial organ—a biological component that has outlived its evolutionary purpose. This aligns them with the tailbone, another old bone in our body.
Safety
Overall, it’s much safer to remove whatever wisdom teeth you might have growing than to leave them in. Most people don’t have room for these teeth in their mouth, and letting them remain can result in all kinds of oral health problems. Avoiding these issues can give one a leg up on keeping your mouth healthy.
In particular, third molars are notorious for incurring a variety of dental issues even when they seem like they’re not exhibiting any symptoms. The overcrowding of wisdom teeth can also cause a variety of problems, such as cavities and gum disease. Removing these problematic teeth can save you a lot of grief down the line.
Convenience
Removing all of your wisdom teeth at once can actually amount to a major convenience in the long run, as it means that you’ll likely just have to deal with one recovery period following your surgery.
If you leave some of your wisdom teeth in, then there’s a possibility you might have to deal with further issues down the line. In addition, contrary to what you might expect, removing just one wisdom tooth take the same amount of time to recover from as removing all four at once. With this information in mind, removing the teeth in a group becomes an easy decision.
Comfort
Removing all your wisdom teeth at one time doesn’t necessarily impact your overall comfort. Despite what you might expect, patients can overall expect about the same level of comfort or discomfort whether they remove one wisdom tooth or all four in the same go. Part of this is because wisdom teeth removal is, by its very nature, somewhat uncomfortable.
The wisdom teeth removal process, along with the recovery process that goes along with it, is bound to be somewhat uncomfortable to some degree. Removing all of your wisdom teeth separately can mean setting yourself up to experience the same discomfort over and over again.
Most patients will find that they qualify for multiple tooth extractions. This can all be done over during a consultation with your dentist prior to receiving treatment. During this consultation, you can discuss all of the relevant information regarding your upcoming procedure, as well as how you’ll interact with your planned treatment.
Affordability
Overall, it’s more expensive to have multiple surgeries than it is for each tooth extraction than it is to do all of the teeth in one go. For this reason, multiple tooth extraction is economical, on top of the above advantages.
If you stretch out the tooth extractions, you end up paying for multiple office visits, more surgical expenses, and multiple anesthesia treatments. All in all, these have the potential to seriously impact the way you feel, as well as your pocketbook.
Combining all of your extractions into one go can give you a leg up on keeping track of your expenses and expenditures. This in turn gives you more time to focus on the things that you actually care about, rather than spending your time planning how to pay off multiple tooth extractions.
The Dentist of Choice for Irvine
OC Dental Specialists and their proficient team are completely dedicated to giving the residents of Irvine and beyond the absolute best in dental care. If you’re interested in receiving a wisdom tooth extraction, contact us today to discuss wisdom teeth removal in Irvine.