Removing Wisdom Teeth a Scam?

Don't mean to be contentious, but I too think its a scam

When I had my wisdom teeth removed I had braces. The doctor said that I had to have them removed or it would basically screw up all benifit the braces were providing. I can see how this was possible but just to have them removed I think its a scam. Wisdom teeth are a cash cow for those maxillofacial surgeons and unless your wisdom teeth are giving you a problem, ie: like very painfull or contributing to a jaw problem, I would leave them and save the money.

I find that if you can endure the pain the operation brings, then you can endure the pain of allowing your wisdom teeth to grow in. I'm glad we're all in agreement! LOL

Excellent post! I found this on some website, after this thought-provoking thread was started.

In a groundbreaking report from the British Medical Journal, researchers who poured over thousands of studies detailing the efficacy of medical and dental procedures have concluded that many popular surgical procedures are completely worthless. Among those is one of the most common procedures performed by your dentist: the removal of so-called "impacted" wisdom teeth. According to the BMJ, this procedure may actually do more harm than good.

Now, it turns out, the removal of wisdom teeth has been found to be an utterly worthless procedure to begin with. It "may do more harm than good" says the British Medical Journal, after reviewing literally thousands of case studies. So the typical dentist is really just hyping a useless procedure, and if your dentist is anything like the dentist I encountered, they're also using all sorts of highly unethical scare tactics to try to force people into undergoing the procedure. That's downright evil, and yet it's a common practice among dentists in the United States.

I want to hear more people chime in on this.

The two largest misconceptions by the lay public about dentistry are 1) people have "soft" teeth and 2) wisdom teeth cause lower anterior crowding. Wisdom teeth will not cause lower anterior crowding, ask any competent orthodontist, or just think about it from a logical standpoint. Realistically can a tooth the size of a wisdom tooth(generally not that large) be expected to "push" all of the root structure of the 5 to 7 teeth mesial to it to "move" the lower anteriors?? It just doesn't happen. However, occlussal irregularities, forces of the tongue pushing out, the facial muscles "pulling" in and vertical erruption forces can cause crowding. This interm with the inherrant tendencies for a mesial drift of teeth as we age can, and often will cause lower anterior crowding as we age(due to the larger root structure of maxiallry anterior teeth it is often not seen, or much less pronounced in the maxilla)

Now, is having wisdom teeth removed a "scam" that the dental community runs?? I will admit that some dentists and oral surgeons may be a bit quick to reccomend wisdom tooth removal. The criteria that I use is as follows: Is the wisdom tooth fully errupted(i.e. fully through the gum)? Does the patient demonstrate the ability to keep the wisdom tooth clean? Is the periodontal(gum) situation the same around the wisdom tooth as all the adjacent teeth? If any of these questions is a "no" I reccommend extraction. The most common problem with wisdom teeth is something called pericoronitis, which is a PAINFULL infection that from time to time can occur around a wisdom tooth that isn't fully errupted through the gum. If the tooth is impacted, hey the worst thing that can happen is if the impacted tooth is pushing on the tooth infront of it. This can cause extensive decay to the infront of the wisdom tooth in an area that is unrestorable and then not only will the wisdom tooth need to come out at a later date, but also the tooth infront of it

Now, nobody likes the concept of having their wisdom teeth removed, but it is very likely that if your dentist has reccommended it that it is for good reason. Think of it this way, if your dermatologist reccomends an "interesting" looking freckle be removed because of a future risk, you'd do it in a moment. This is the same type of situation!

I thought wisdom teeth needed to be removed or else your mouth would be too  "crowded", which results in your teeth cracking and breaking from the pressure..but wow I was just about to get mine removed I guess I'll think twice about it now!

A guess to added to the list of people who have been fooled by this myth

The ironic thing is that i know many friends who have had this procedure done yet none of them could state why exactly they needed it.

So its essential to have the wisdom teeth removed?

I'm also against it, but recently, I noticed my wisdom teeth biting into my side cheek muscles; it's very irritating, I just hope it goes away - crap!

I don't know if it is a scam or not but much of the field of dentistry hag always seemed archaic to me. It harks back to a time when amputation was still a common cure. You would think in this modern times there would be better ways to deal with cavities then drilling or pulling out the teeth.

I actually am in between. I don't think its the most helpful and widely beneficial procedure, but for some people it actually is very necessary. A lot of people have their wisdom teeth growing in crooked, instead of straight up it grows in pushing the other teeth forward. That happened with me and I still have not gotten them removed and the pain is horrible, I can also see my teeth having less space in between them as a result of the pushing by the wisdom teeth. That being said, wisdom teeth that grow in wrong, which happens with a lot of people, end up actually cracking in some cases. It gives way to infections and lots of pain!
So its helpful for the people who need the procedure, but I've seen a lot of people whose teeth are perfectly fine and the dentist has them removed so in that case, its a scam.
And I'm going to be a dentist, so hehe scammy scammy scam scam. >=]

@roop200, it really depends on the person, that COULD actually happen. My teeth are definitely crowded already without the wisdom teeth and I have to get them removed soon since they're starting to push on them a lot.

To sum up, I think that's the main issue. I was talking to my brother about this yesterday and he said the exact same thing, because like you, he has been feed these lies as a teenager. No one want to have bad teeth and have a bad smile, so dentists use this to their advantage and feed such lies to youth. My father has the straightest teeth, he is 50, and never removed his.