What exactly is a wisdom tooth?

Question

I'm 18 and...a few month ago one tooth on the left side of my mouth at the back started growing but now it's..stuck? It's not fully developed as some of the tooth is under the gum. On the right side of my mouth i can feel something where the tooth is on the other side - i'm guessing it's another tooth but this hasn't come through yet.

Also at 18 how many teeth should i have? I have 12 (and the bit) teeth on the bottom - 2 were taken out a few years ago.

Answer 1

Wisdom teeth are 4 teeth (2 on top and 2 on bottom) that come in during your teen+ years (when you've gained some wisdom I guess).  The problem with these teeth is that the human mouth has gotten slightly smaller than in previous human generations and so they grow in "impacted", and almost always need to be removed.

Answer 2

In very simple terms, wisdom teeth are sort of Mother Nature's back up teeth. We need a certain amount of teeth to be able to chew and mother nature kindly provided us a back up chewing tooth in case we lost too many too soon.

It's normal for wisdom teeth to start to erupt then slip back down and so on. They take time to come in. You should still see your dentist and have them checked to make sure they are in proper position to erupt naturally. Age 18 is very appropriate for them to start to come in.

If you had two teeth removed and have twelve left on the bottom then you have the right amount of teeth. Including wisdom teeth we have 32 teeth total (top and bottom) or 16 per arch. Depending on what teeth you had removed and why, your dentist may recommend keeping your wisdom teeth. However, if you had them removed because you were short on space then they'll definitely want to take out your wisdom teeth too.

Definitely visit your dentist and discuss it with him/her.

Good luck!

Answer 3

It is just a "nickname" given to the last teeth that come in.

They usually don;t come in until you are older, and supposedly the older you get the wiser you are, so these are called Wisdom teeth because they are the last ones to come in.

Other than that, they are not special, but some people have trouble with them "erupting" through the skin.  It can be painful, but it will go away.  In some people they NEVER come in -- I guess these people never "get wise" . . . .

Answer 4

Useless teeth that do nothing but cause pain.

Answer 5

you should get 4 wisdow teeth 2 @ the top and 2@ the bottom, sometimes they dont come through at all, mine did not start untill I was in my late 30s and they had to remove my very back teeth to give them room to grow.

The average adult has 32 teeth