The Redundancy of Wisdom Teeth

The mandibular third molars, better known as wisdom teeth, grow in most people between the age 17-25, an age range deemed old enough to garner some wisdom. In fact, these teeth could be of valuable assets when they grow out properly.

I beg to differ.

These damn teeth have given me nothing but misery. I cried myself to sleep for the whole week during my junior year in college because my left wisdom tooth was growing slanted and pushing the tooth next to it, hence causing unbelievable pain that not even the strongest pain killer could help me bear. The process of extracting it was so painful, regardless the anesthetic, and the after math of the extraction was even worse. It was pure torture.

And of course, five years later, I had to go through the same thing. My dentist this time had a bit more finesse, but the pain, the swelling, the soreness, they’re all the same. And now, even after my stitches have been removed, after taking painkillers, my mouth is still not the same. I am still tortured.

Why on earth do we still need wisdom teeth? Are they going to help us chew better? Well, I was doing fine before they came out. My dental bridge is supported well enough, I don’t see how these four extra teeth would help in anyway. And I don’t have any missing molars that I’d need my wisdom teeth to come in as replacements. Even if a molar was missing, there’s such a thing as artificial teeth these days. So why hasn’t evolution kicked in and gotten rid of these damn things altogether? Maybe Sarah Palin is right after all…

Seriously though, why do we still need wisdom teeth? They don’t give us anymore wisdom, they do nothing, they provide nothing, even their benefits… they’re redundant. These 4 teeth are redundant. Our existing teeth are fine without them; they don’t need anymore help in chewing. 

So now, with an ice pack pressed tightly to my right cheek, hoping in some way it would reduce the swelling, I feel a series of throbbing pain in my gum, although I have had my stitches removed, stitches that were irritating my gum and my cheek, so much so that I developed TWO ulcers. Even now, without the stitches, I still feel this empty space that has been sown and closed up pulling in whenever I swallow. I fear it’s going to open up and ooze blood till I pass out.

I’m not being dramatic, but seriously, I am in a lot of pain. So I beg you evolution, please, pretty please, just stop these mandibular third molars from torturing us. Just eliminate them. Please.