How long can I put off getting my wisdom teeth pulled without ruining my teeth?
Wisdom Teeth Removal Often Unnecessary Study: Taking Out Symptom-Free Wisdom Teeth Neither Helps nor Hurts Health Dentists warned removal of wisdom teeth ‘unnecessary’ The Prophylactic Extraction of Third Molars: A Public Health Hazard Consumer Reports Health: 12 surgeries you may be better off without Some anecdotes and differing opinions on the matter in this previous askMe question on wisdom teeth removal. Anecdote: I still have mine at 35. Have had no problems with them yet, even though my dentist told me they were all impacted and would need to come out ~2
MTANYT (my teeth are not your teeth) so YMMV, but the time elapsed between me being advised to remove my wisdom teeth by my Canadian dentist and the time they were actually removed by the Norwegian oral surgeon was >2 years and I was 35 years old by the time they came out. Don’t believe everything you hear about the Norway health system being particularly good – yes everyone gets health cover by the same crappy system, but even the British NHS is better. They had my X-rays for 18 months before they could see me. Mine were removed because the danger was trapped food would lead to rot in the teeth in front and erosion of the enamel as the teeth pushed in. I wasn’t in pain, so there was no imperative to remove them. Get an oral surgeon, don’t settle for a dentist who only does this kind of stuff occasionally. Mine came out as sweet as you please when done by a professional, but I have colleagues who had the dentist do it and suffered the consequences of broken bits of tooth left in the so
