<p>If anybody has been following the two wisdom teeth threads on the main Parents’ forum as I have been, since my freshman D just had hers out, I have a question. Is there any insight from an evolutionary standpoint as to why we have wisdom teeth and why they cause us so many problems? I never thought about that until reading scanning the range of issues with them on the threads.</p>
<p>I think I heard somewhere that our mouths used to be bigger…(?) So there was room for more teeth. Now our mouths are smaller and wisdom teeth often don’t even have the room to grow in or grow in impacting other teeth (mine blocked my 12-year molars from coming in until they were removed when I was 18!) But that could be wrong. I don’t remember where I heard it and I’m not a dentist ;)</p>
<p>I imagine softer foods which could discourage jaw development and less time nursing might have also something to do with it.
(I bring up the fetal development because laying in an isolette at a time when the baby is in utero can contribute to a narrowing of the dental arch)
For example I was born one month early- wasn’t nursed, had extensive orthodontia- and extractions were part of that.
My D who was over two month early- even though she couldnt nurse till she was 4 months old- was nursed extensively- still had braces- but not the extractions and multiple headgears that I had.
Her sister was term- nursed a long time , had braces for one hour-( ask me about that sometime) may still need her wisdom teeth out- but so far her teeth look great ( the braces- were more for perfection not cause she needed them- she has hardly any crowding or misalignment)
Wisdom teeth also I think I heard were to take the place of teeth that were lost-thru injury or decay</p>
<p>Studys have shown that Our [humans] teeth are gettings smaller as we evolve intto a life where we dont need bigger teeth because all of our food is processed. Wisdom teeth were probably used along time ago when early humans couldn’t run to a McDonalds to get their food.</p>
<p>EK4: I nursed both my children for six months each. My son didn’t even need braces (and has a perfect bite); he did have his wisdom teeth removed. My daughter, however, had a palate expander TWICE and wore braces for a grand total of more than six years (three separate rounds of braces); her baby teeth were so crowded they overlapped; she also had head gear for quite a while, too. (In short, her teeth were a mess.)</p>
<p>I have all four of my wisdom teeth; my husband has only 21 teeth because so many of his great big teeth had to be removed to make room for the rest.</p>
<p>Tooth pulling has been common for hundreds of years; the teeth have been a source of pain and infection throughout human history. If you read journals of historical figures, tooth pain is a common theme. (George Washington’s false teeth are famous.)</p>
<p>Last century the life expectancy was around 45 years. The adult rotting of wisdom teeth was irrelevant. Even now, many adults simply lose all their teeth and wear dentures. </p>
<p>(<a href=“http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/jada/reports/suppl_21century_10.pdf[/url]”>Internal Server Error | American Dental Association; says 47 million adults wear full or partial dentures)</p>
<p>(<a href=“http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/1996pres/960311.html[/url]”>http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/1996pres/960311.html</a> --it’s an old study but says 10% of adults have no teeth at all)</p>
<p>The crowd here on CC is well-educated (college bound kids is only about 50% of the population) and generally financially sound (we can afford computers and have the leisure time to post). We can afford the highest quality dental care. And that dental care includes the removal of wisdom teeth to prevent <em>future</em> problems (rather than address immediate situations). (<a href=“http://www.encinosmiledr.com/wisdom.htm[/url]”>http://www.encinosmiledr.com/wisdom.htm</a>)</p>
<p>EK is partly correct, the extended nursing likely to have been typical among early humans was probably something like 4-6 years, not 4-6 months. Certain tribal societies still practice this pattern. Breastfeeding is a very different mechanical act and it expands the palate & influences the development of the jaw and in fact the whole skull.</p>
<p>But the second factor not present with cavemen is the more modern practice of intermarriage between different ‘tribes’-- which means the small-jaw people have children with the large-teeth people and problems result.</p>
<p>what I have read is evolutionary wise- wisdom teeth were meant to take the place of lost teeth- but a hundred or even three hundred years is not much time for vestigal body parts to disappear- we don’t even really know why we have appendixes or tonsils.</p>
<p>I nursed both my kids for 4 years- after they began eating solid food it was for more first aid than nourishment but it still helped their jaw development I think- as well as other things- more similar probably to ancient man, than what we do today.</p>
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EK-
OUCH!!! If I did that, my kids would never have had to had their wisdom teeth out (well, one down, one to go as far as the wisdom teeth extraction go). Anyway, they would have had plenty of room left in their mouths for the few teeth that remained after each and every time they bit me when nursing. :)</p>
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<p>jym~</p>
<p>ROFLMAO!!! </p>
<p>I actually nursed all six of mine until they weaned themselves. Each of them naturally weaned somewhere between 12 and 20 months. I CRIED when some of them weaned themselves at what <em>I</em> thought was too early an age, but you can lead a baby to…well, you get the idea. </p>
<p>Maybe it was a GOOD thing they weaned before they had a whole mouthful of teeth??! <em>lol</em> ~berurah</p>
<p>Berurah-</p>
<p>You nursed 6 kids?? You are a brave woman! Sometimes the older kids get jealous of the younger kids attention and… shall we say “opportunity”. Did any of the older ones ever come knocking back at your door?</p>