Barrie Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 haha glad I'm not the only late bloomer! I heard that not everyone has to have them taken out all depends on how they fit in your mouth? Not too sure whether my cousin was lying or not... read my posts... I have a big mouth :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southerrrngirrl Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Hmm very interesting thread. I've been lucky enough to never have the need to spend any large amounts of time (or cash!!) at a dentist for anything. I don't even have a filling and have all of my wisdom teeth. A couple of them might have come through slightly askew, but have never caused me any real pain. I hope the day never comes for fillings or any dental procedures involving local anasthetics. I have a strong dislike for needles, and I think needles in the mouth would just be horrific! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted December 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 See, for me it's not the needles, its the noise they make inside your mouth....egh!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 My doctor has 5 kids, the youngest is in his late 20's and none of them have ever needed any fillings or dental work! :-? I had my wisdom teeth out as an adult. I lost 2 fillings while pregnant with my 2nd child and while he was having his heart surgery. They said pregnancy and stress can cause this :roll: I also have problems due to tetracycline treatments I had as a teen. I do not like the needles but hate the noise even more (and I don't mean me or the dentist screaming. Me cos it hurts, him cos he got kicked by me :lol: ) I also hate the vibrations from the drills, especially the slow one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 The reason wisdom teeth cause so many problems is the last 10,000 on a much much softer diet than the previous..... even longer time. Yay for cooking and agriculture! Our skulls have shrunk about 2% every thousand years over that time, so there is less space for our last molars (what wisdom teeth are). They are often small, or in some cases or or more are absent, as they are being made redundant by evolution. Some people, like Barrie, have big heads and can fit them all in My wisdom teeth are (hopefully) stuck and will not come through. Mostly they come through in your late teens, less often in your early twenties. If your wisdom teeth appear to 'go up and down' they are actually a bit stuck. It is not the tooth moving, but the gum around it getting infected. This is because only a little bit of the tooth has come through and bacteria can get down around it and generally go nuts. If it gets really really infected it feels like toothache and you need to get them out. Usually the infections go away of their own accord, but they will come back and usually get worse each time. Wisdom teeth coming through properly will NOT cause any pain. Caryl, your doctor's kids are lucky, but it is not just luck. Almost all dental work is required due to neglect. I don't mean just not brushing your teeth ever, but not brushing long enough or flossing etc. To properly clean your teeth you need to brush gently (not scrub, this permanently wears away your gums) for two minutes. On average most people brush for 37 seconds.... I heard a good line re flossing: only floss the teeth you want to keep! :lol: Tis actually very true. Not flossing is like only brushing the cheek surfaces of your teeth and leaving the tongue-side dirty. With pregnancy the hormones can play havoc with your gums. They can wind up very bleedy and generally unhealthy. There is an old wives tale about tooth issues while pregnant but it is complete bollocks. However it is possible that you were stressed and grinding your teeth causing them to break (already weakened by having fillings). Needles: having seen a billion oral injections: if you EXPECT it will hurt, it WILL! The more you expect it to hurt, the more it will hurt, and so on. They are not pleasant, but seriously, that needle is so fine! I have certainly have had my fair share of dental needles, it is not fun, but my main problem is nervous laughter: last three times I have been in HYSTERICS while the needle is in me! After 4.5 years of dental assisting the ONLY other person I have ever seen do that was my mum......! (insanity is hereditary....) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghaz Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 my sister had her's taken out when she was 18, but i've never had then even peak through. in fact i've never had any problems with my teeth at all, never had a filling..... Our skulls have shrunk about 2% every thousand years over that time, so there is less space for our last molars (what wisdom teeth are). They are often small, or in some cases or or more are absent, as they are being made redundant by evolution. Some people, like Barrie, have big heads and can fit them all in i guess i have evolved to have no wisdom teeth at all, my future plan for the next 2 decades is to evolve into pure energy, and not needing a physical body at all :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 LOL Ghaz! I once had a patient ask on the phone why wisdom teeth cause so much trouble. I told her about our shrinking heads etc etc. She (a schoolteacher) replied most matter-of-factly "I don't believe in evolution" I was stumped and responseless..... Later I REALLY REALLY wish that I had asked her how creationism explains them... I did always enjoy telling patients with no wisdom teeth (while looking at their xrays) that they were more evolved than the rest of us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghaz Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 LOL Ghaz! I once had a patient ask on the phone why wisdom teeth cause so much trouble. I told her about our shrinking heads etc etc. She (a schoolteacher) replied most matter-of-factly "I don't believe in evolution" I was stumped and responseless..... Later I REALLY REALLY wish that I had asked her how creationism explains them... I did always enjoy telling patients with no wisdom teeth (while looking at their xrays) that they were more evolved than the rest of us HAHA, was she an amoeba? is that how you spell it? or as i see from a family guy episode there is the alternative to the creation of the world and how we became, it was Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southerrrngirrl Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 So Stella.. how many patients did you have ringing up enquiring about or coming in to have their teeth made in to fangs?? (so they could look like a vampire) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 Southerrrngirl.... actually 1.5! I had this nutter come once, he had had all his teeth out a year prior and now wanted dentures made. Only he wanted them made to look like a vampire... (no he wasn't a goth, he looked like he had never paid any attention to soap or appearances) I tried to explain to him that while it is possible to to that, they would simply not be functional (dentures need to hold on by suction to the palate and tongue/cheek control, fangs would forever be dislodging them when eating/talking). He was undeterred and I suggested a second opinion from a denture tech and gave him his card. I then rang up the tech to apologise in advance! The .5 was from a girl who really wanted to have her canine teeth crowned with silver. She had done a lot of thinking and had the money to do it ($1000 each). I explained the best we could do was stainless steel or white gold, but they would both wind up looking quite black (shadows etc). I booked her in for a consultation but she never showed. I tried making temporary crowns as fangs (plastic) for Halloween, but it was rather difficult to do myself. Will try again one day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 I am so wise I still have all my wisdom teeth. When I was 12 I had 4 permanent teeth pulled and braces to force my teeth into the right place so my wisdom teeth would come down ok. Seems to have work - well as far as getting the teeth to come down in about the right place anyway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 They removed 4 of mine to supposedly make room but I still have crooked teeth and still had to have the wisdom teeth removed due to lack of space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 Thanks for reminding me: relating to how people think wisdom teeth can make your other teeth crooked. If you look on a panoramic xray that shows all your teeth, they are actually all leaning a little towards the front. As you get older they lean over a little more, winding up with crowding in the front. most people with 'not enough room' for all their teeth (excluding wisdom teeth) and who had to have extractions of adult teeth and braces is because they were thumb-suckers or mouth breathers. The teeth are actually held in position by the cheeks and the tongue. If the mouth is held open the teeth (and whole arch) get pushed inwards by the cheeks, making the arch too small to accommodate all the teeth. Modern orthodontics involves widening the arch then straightening the teeth, instead of taking some teeth out and pulling the front teeth backwards. The extraction method can leave people with a very flat face. (complex stuff) If you have kids needing braces look for an orthodontist that does 'functional orthodontics' rather than extractions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 Stella Thats a similar problem that I see often nowdays with new parents being told to make sure their babys sleep on their backs rather than their sides... often the babys end up with flat heads... yes they do slowly straighten but it takes a while and they have a flat head at the back which makes their heads look bigger and often out or proportion. Most new ways are better but sometimes the old ways are worth looking at as well Stella, with your passion, you should be looking at Dental Hygienst surely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 amazing just how malleable babies head's are! I contemplated being a hygienist a while ago, then realised the thing I found the most stomach churning was really dirty teeth (give me blood and gore and bone drills any day!). And anyway, it would still be 'just a job'. I want to do something I am really passionate about, this time native fish. So I am now signed up to do study next year in ecology at massey, and have just had it confirmed that I am doing a study over summer (paid) figuring out a bucket design that will allow whitebait to self-sort into species (oh dear god why did I agree to this??) (my problem is I find many many things really fascinating...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 And anyway, it would still be 'just a job'. every job becomes just a job and after 40 years in my job it is just a job... its always people that spoil and make things just a job Been working for myself for 21 years and it has become just a job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 6, 2008 Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 well yes, that is very very true..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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