I am 51, and about every other time I go to the dentist (same one!), he says, "you might want to think about having your wisdom teeth removed; they're only going to cause you problems."

The difference is that when I was 18, at my last pediatric dentist appointment, I was told, "keep them clean, and they'll be fine the rest of your life."

I'm in my 40s and most dentist office I've walked into in the last 20 years has given me "two years at most before they need to come out!!!". Last year I did end up needing only one of them to come out because of pain to the tooth next to it. The other 3 are still fine.

I can actually tell which dental office is scammy vs genuine based on their remarks on the wisdom teeth. The more adamant they are about the removal, the less trustworthy.