[marvin]

Very commonly, a person's jaw/mouth is too small for the wistom teeth to fit. Case in point, I (25-year old guy) had a wisdom tooth which grew sideways (into the next tooth) and _would_ have destroyed the next tooth and caused an infection like the one linked in the article. I have a second one which might do the same.

These things are not preventable, you were just born lucky. Remember, humans didn't usually live to become 50 years old.

[Zancarius]

> Very commonly, a person's jaw/mouth is too small for the wistom teeth to fit.

Exactly this. I had something similar (identical?): A horizontal impaction of my bottom right molar. Had I left it longer, it would've destroyed the roots to the molar in front of it, and I would've lost that tooth, too.

I suspect it's largely genetic. My mum has all her wisdom teeth, and she's never had an issue; my father had all of his removed because they didn't come in straight. My situation played out identically to his. Hence, I don't believe that simply taking pristine care of the teeth will magically help--if they don't erupt from the gums properly or come in crooked, there isn't much else that can be done save an extraction if they're problematic. In many cases, you're better off having them removed to prevent issues precisely like this one.

[andrewem]

I'm missing two upper teeth [0], which resulted in my having enough room in my mouth for my upper wisdom teeth to fit comfortably. It's evidently of genetic origin in my case, as I have relatives who are missing the same teeth, which I think from that source are called the upper lateral incisors. Were I not missing those teeth I expect I'd have needed the upper wisdom teeth removed to make room.

(On a tangent, there's a great article [1] about how bulldogs have been bread to have massive jaws and a very short face and that results in all kinds of breathing difficulties.)

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypodontia [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/can-the-bulldog-b...

[Zancarius]

Interesting. I know of at least two other people with that condition who were missing a number of adult teeth that never came in. Though, I think their example is somewhat more extreme (and according to Wikipedia, I guess it would be classified as oligodontia), because at least one of them required extensive dental surgery for implants since they quite literally lacked 6+ (maybe more?) teeth.

> (On a tangent, there's a great article [1] about how bulldogs have been bread to have massive jaws and a very short face and that results in all kinds of breathing difficulties.)

I bet that applies to persian cats, too, since they're bred with extensively concave faces (something that seems cruel, IMO).

Very interesting reply--thanks for sharing that, because I had completely forgotten that one of my friends has a similar condition. Can't believe I completely forgot he had implantation done, too...

[jonnathanson]

"Remember, humans didn't usually live to become 50 years old."

This. Also, humans used to lose a lot of teeth. Modern dental hygiene is a very recent development within the ~200,000 year span of H. sapiens sapiens. Throughout most of human history, wisdom teeth served as reserves, of a sort, to fill in what were likely to have been more than a few gaps.

These days, proper dental hygiene means you've more likely than not been able to keep all of your adult teeth, ergo, it's highly likely than your wisdom teeth will become impacted. The assertion that proper dental care will prevent wisdom tooth impaction is ludicrous.

It is true, however, that extraction of wisdom teeth can be managed to an extent. Almost everyone gets them at some point, and impaction is very common, and all of this is well known. So a proper dental regimen should include x-rays to search for wisdom teeth well before they become problematic. If this is what the OP intended to say, then fine. But his phrasing makes it sound as if he implied that proper brushing and flossing will obviate the need for wisdom tooth removal. Last I checked, brushing and flossing do not alter the shape of one's jaw.