Why Do We Have Wisdom Teeth?
On our 18th birthdays we might get a cake and a card, maybe a special gift.
But there is an unwanted and sometimes painful present that many of us get at that time of life — wisdom teeth.
They usually come between the ages of 17 and 25 and there are usually four at the back of your mouth. They're known as wisdom teeth because they arrive at a time when we might be beginning to feel wise.
Although, some studies have said that only a little more than half of people get their wisdom teeth at all.
For those that do, they can cause a lot of pain as they break through the gums and try to find a space in the corners of our mouths — and dentists may recommend removing them.
So if we don't really need them, why do we have them?
Well, the answer that most experts give is that we may not need them now, but our ancestors did.
That's because they ate tough, uncooked foods — things like meat, plants and nuts. So having wisdom teeth helped them grind the foods down to make them easier to eat.
Of course, now we cook many of these tougher foods to make them softer, so we don't need to work so hard with our teeth.
And over time, our jaws have become smaller. There's often still space for the wisdom teeth to grow in the jaw yet not quite enough for them to erupt in the mouth — and that's often the reason for the pain.
Can we choose the cake and the card instead?
