The pointless-ness of wisdom teeth.

(Picture: goodbyewisdomteeth.com)
Earlier this week, I had two of my wisdom teeth removed. Now, they had been causing me pain for a year, and finally my dentist decided that it would be best for me to have them removed. Luckily, compared to the pain of them coming through, the removal of them has been nothing. It is sore, and I cant chew or eat solid food, but at least they will not cause me the pain I have been through.

Throughout all this though, the one niggling feeling in me was that we do not even need our wisdom teeth! They are part of our biology from when we chewed grass and needed our appendix. The evolution process means that when we were apes, we needed bigger jaws and the 'third molars' (aka wisdom teeth) were needed for everyday use. When we were 'downsized' however, our jaws no longer had the room for these molars and this is why so many people gain problems from the appearance of their wisdom teeth.

Now, the evolution story is either one you believe or not, but there is no denying that at sometime we needed these teeth and that at one time beng without them would have caused more problems than ifwe did not have them. If only evolution could magically take them away! We do not need them now, there are there as part of our history and cause pain for a lot of us.

The other scary thing about the whole wisdom tooth operation is the actual operation! Like many, this was my first time having an operation and therefore first time under general anesthetic. This si the most scary thing for me, it took me ages to get used to the idea of being asleep, but the other option of being able to watch them do it was unthinkable. Turns out, neither the procedure or the anesthetic is anything to be scared of. I was simply out off to sleep, awaoke with oxygen and then was sent home to rest for at least 48 hours. Its such a simple precedure that I do not know what I was worried about to start with.

Luckily, for some, wisdom teeth may never appear. For others they may cause grief. You are more likely yo see them between the age of 17 and 25. So if you are past this time in your life then you can breathe a sigh of relief as it is less likely you will ever know you have yours hiding somewhere. Some people get 4, others anywhere between 1 and 4. I am one of the unlucky ones that have 4. Two no longer there and one that is just sitting in my gum quite happy (touch wood no pain!) the other is still 'dorment', the dentist said it may never some through- lets hope so!

The name 'wisdom tooth' is given because they erupt during the time of a youths 'wisdom'- it is when we are meant to be learning and becoming wiser. At a time when most people are out enjoying there new found freedom, and adulthood, having a searing pain in your mouth is not a good thing. Its a shame, but most will not have to be removed and can be fixed with some anti-biotics.

I am not saying that having a few extra teeth would be a problem, as long as they fit in with the others perfectly. A few bigger teeth will be handy when chewing harder foods but when it comes down to it, we cope well with the ones we have from birth perfectly enough.

I genuinely feel better with the whole situation now I know that there is not going to be any pain coming along from those hidden teeth, at the moment though I am looking forward to having real food, a curry, a sandwich and even a hot cup of tea! Eating soup all day is not the most filling of things and cold drinks all the time really are not satisfying in the cold weather. It'll all be over soon though and I cna once again enjoy christmas dinner, unlike last year where I could hardly chew the meat through the pain.