Hi guys,

Yeah I am twenty four and still have em! Back in 2005 I went to an oral surgeon and he suggested that I have all four removed because of possible crowding and shifting of the teeth. I vetoed the idea because I was leaving for India in two weeks-glad I did, stomach problems, pollution and dry sockets---no thanks.

Here we are again, this time I am leaving for Japan in a month and yet again the dentist is recomending they come out---but it seems to me that here in the US they *always* recommend they come out. Is it me or did previous generations/other cultures not bother themselves with this?

I am in no pain and really don't have the desire to be. All the same though, right now I have dental insurance and with my company in Japan will have medical but not dental. To take out my cavites, extract a bum root canal and four extractions would be about 240$--not too bad. At the same time I have only 2k saved for my first month in Japan sans paycheck (will be adding another 800.00 to that.)

I am not sure if I take the risk and leave them in, or just harden the f*ck up and get everything taken out.

Please share your ideas and experiences. Thanks

If anyone knows about the state of Japanese dental care and/or how much a Eikaiwa teacher needs to bring, please chime in

I am lucky enough to be one of those "more highly evolved" people who only have 28 teeth -- that's what my dentist told me anyway. I don't know your particular dental situation and am not qualified to advise you on it. However, I do know a bit about Japanese dental care. It is good, but they have a way of stretching treatment out over far more appointments and a much longer time than here in the US. A couple of my colleagues in Hiroshima had root canals -- the process took close to a year and involved ten or so appointments in each case. Fortunately, our insurance covered most of the costs as it was quite expensive; even so it added up as each part of the procedure was subject to a 5,000 yen deductable.

If your teeth are already fully in, and don't bother you, then you have no need to have them removed. Your dentist is recommending taking them out because the more wisdom teeth he pulls, the more $$$ he has. A significant proportion of wisdom teeth extractions are unnecessary.

A side note: My wife just had four pulled, and had the worst four weeks of her life with two dry sockets, and a bad allergic reaction to the medication.

This really isn't something you can get an answer to on the internet. I suggest you get a second opinion from a different dentist, telling him he won't be the one taking them out, you just want a consult to see if you should and then question him on how much crowding there will be and want the consequences will be. For example, your teeth might shift leaving with a not as perfect smile. You may be fine with that. They may shift and crowd so much that it will give you headaches and seriously disfigure your smile, you might not be ok with that.

I've had alot of issues with my teeth and had braces and in fact non-wisdom adult teeth removed to make more room in my mouth. It was necessary, I had horrible headaches before. When I was 18 I had my wisdom teeth taken out. My dentist took an x ray to check them out, he wouldn't have taken them out if it weren't necessary, I'm confident with that or he would have taken out only the teeth that would cause the problem. When we looked at the xray, the majority of my wisdom teeth were coming in sideways. ie as the wisdom teeth erupted and grew they would shove sideways instead of up, pushing the rest of my teeth into each other. It was obvious mine needed to come out.

Good luck and hopefully you won't need them out but even if you do, it really isn't the worst thing in the world. One of my sockets got infected but it was taken care of fairly simply and quickly and no other problems. Eating feels weird and I always feel a little wacky the day of surgery, due to the drugs they use to knock you out other than that I was fine.

Look at the X-rays. If those teeth look impacted, they're impacted.

It's pretty obvious, even to a layperson.

(disclaimer: I am not a Doctor, Lawyer or Indian Chief)

I still have my wisdom teeth, and I'm 31. However, I should get them removed, because they didn't erupt all the way and the gums didn't seal all the way down, so I'm open for infection. My dentist is pretty laissez-faire about the whole deal, and so am I. They got infected once when I didn't have insurance and I just went on antibiotics and I haven't had a problem since. I'm just too lazy. I should think that by 24 all the shifting will be done with and you've got the smile you've got.

But getting your wisdom teeth taken out in Japan might be a sort of interesting experience.

Yeah, I went back and forth about this for about two years. Finally got them all out and am glad I did.

In a lot of situations even the dentists don't know how the teeth are going to develop--if they'll be fine forever or start causing you trouble in two, ten, twenty years. Everybody is different, so they can't really assume unless they see some clear signs. Because of the uncertinty, because the surgery is so easy and routine when young, and because it only become harder and riskier as a person gets older, they like to play it safe and just have them taken out if they kind of look like they might cause a problem.

So, a second opinion is never a bad idea; but in the end, if your dentist isn't overly adamant about it, then you will probably just have to ask yourself if you would rather take the risk of having problems down the road when your older or having an easy quick surgery now that you won't ever give a thought to again after a couple months. (I recommend the second)

Have you had ANY pain? I had some sporadic pain, but what really did it was having food stick under my gums and I couldn't get at it with brush or floss. That was bad. Realy bad. At that point I had no choice.

Oh, and check the surgery coverage on your health insurance in Japan. Some health insurance in the US covers for impacted wisom teeth removal.

I am 44 and still have my wisdom teeth. Only one dentist waned to pull them and most are simply amazed. Unless they are giving you trouble, I say keep them.

On a side note, my current dentist said that he's noticed that people with wisdom teeth have few root canals. His theory is that we have less pressure per inch since we have more (bite) surface are and hence fewer cracks in our teeth.

I'm with Sharronm.

One can clearly see (with x-rays) my wisdom teeth sitting inside my gums. They've been there for a long time. I have had past dentists who recommended I think about doing something. Usually they were the ones who were always suggesting something for me to do.

Last month, I went to my current dentist and he mentioned that they were still there hanging out inside my gums. He told me that if they don't bother me, they should just stay there.

I say beware of dentists who keep thinking of stuff for you to spend your money on. Once I went to a recommended dentist who told me that I needed braces. I asked him why since my teeth were strong and straight and pretty darned good. He said, oh you have a condition in your jaw that could cause you trouble. I asked when it was likely to cause me trouble. He said probably in my 60s or 70s. I was 26 at the time. I said I would just wait til then. He warned me that I was making a big mistake because it would be harder to fix it when I was older. I asked him why I was seeing so many people in their 20s who were getting braces (like my friend who had recommended him to me) and the dentist told me that it was because health insurance covered it now and it hadn't before.

Bingo, I thought. If they think someone will pay for me to do it, then they recommend it.

So, I go with the "if it's not broke don't fix it" rule.

Yes because:
1. it's free NOW
2. you're young and will recover more quickly than if you wait and get them when you're older (the bones will be more dense)
3. IF it does cause you problems on the road, you'll probably regret no taking them out in the first place.

If they aren't causing pain or immediately observable problems, I'd recommend against removal for the time being. I had two that were clearly impacted and crowding my other teeth, but not causing any pain. My dentist was pretty adamant they needed to come out anyway so I finally did (he did not do the procedure, btw). I ended up with nerve damage as a result and have very limited sensation in my lower jaw now. No matter how much they play it down, it's still surgery. There can be complications. Think hard. Do research. Get second opinions from doctors who won't be profiting from your decision.

I was recently in a similar situation. i am 26, and had two horizontally impacted wisdom teeth (they were growing sideways, into my back molars) one of them was deep in my jaw and tangled with my lingual nerve. this meant removing it caused a greater risk of permanent nerve damage and/or paralysis.

i sweated over the decision for a while...then i applied for the peace corps and they made the decision for me...and out they went. the first few days after were really awful but it's been 6 months and im 100% better.

if they are impacted in anyway, get them out. don't risk the potential problems that may arise. it's true that the older you are the more complicated the healing process is. i had a fairly complicated case and i was eating like nothing happened within a month.