"Everybody is at risk for appendicitis, but do you take out everyone’s appendix?" Greg J. The reason given is that leaving them in is simply putting off the inevitable, because patients with wisdom teeth will face infection or complications later on.īased on that logic, in 2011, 10 million wisdom teeth were removed from Americans' mouths, and a 2015 study estimated that seven times more people are hospitalised for the removal of impacted wisdom teeth in Australia than in the UK.īut new research suggests that it might be overkill. Still, in many countries, including the US and Australia, routine wisdom teeth removal remains the standard procedure. That same year, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh said that for patients who don't have a condition related to third molars, removal is "not advisable". The UK gave up on routinely removing wisdom teeth without solid evidence back in 1998, after a study at the University of York concluded that there was no scientific evidence to support it. In these cases, the evidence is clear that it's far better for a patient to have these 'third molars' - the official name for wisdom teeth - removed.īut it's the other cases that researchers are beginning to question - the cases where wisdom teeth are impacted but are otherwise healthy, or don't have any symptoms at all. Wisdom teeth can become infected, cause tooth decay or cysts, damage neighbouring teeth, and cause a huge amount of pain if left in people's jaws. To be clear, not all wisdom teeth removals are unnecessary. And a growing body of research indicates that we might be putting people through the risk of expensive tooth removal for no reason. For a lot of us, it can be a pretty brutal introduction to adulthood.īut more and more experts are beginning to question whether the majority of these surgeries are even necessary. Depending on whether the teeth are impacted - meaning they're trapped under the gum line - the surgery can involve general anaesthetic, stitches, and a week or two of bed rest and pudding.