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Comment by carpo | Hacker News Reader

Haha, a valid concern. I had one other episode with about the same amount of pain a few years later. I was seeing a different dentist at the time who said there was an operculum (a flap of gum tissue) over one of my wisdom teeth that was inflamed. They cleaned it, explained how to keep it clean and said they'd only remove the tooth if it happened often as it was not impacting any other teeth, didn't have cavities and the root was very close to the nerve. I just make sure to clean that area really well.

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When I was studying, my pal had his wisdom tooth covered by gum completely and he had inflammation. They cut the gum and wiped puss - with teeth as well gone, so these things can happen.

I still have all wisdom teeth, even if one of them is fixed in a shape, that I can describe as a pyramid, which works for me as I do not bite on them. The other one is in better shape - it required dentists to work with "all of their hands in" and I can't open my mouth wide enough, so quite an issue to fix anything back there.

From what I understand the wisdom teeth come in horizontally, growing from the back of the jaw toward the regular back molar. Ideally, as they grow they will rotate toward the vertical. If not completely vertical when finished growing that is like a pyramid. When the wisdom tooth eventually touches the back molar without being vertical enough, that is considered impacted.

I had one that was staying horizontal, not emerging, and that might have been the only one that was pushing my other teeth closer together to where it was getting difficult to floss.

I don't have such a wide jaw either and it was a godsend that the oral surgeon was a highly dedicated South Asian having narrow palms and longer fingers than so many others, because the horizontal tooth had to be removed surgically.

Neanderthalis did not have wisdom tooth issues, and it looks like very early H sapiens did not, either.

The theory is that pre-bread societies chewed a lot more - MUCH more - and the stress induced growth in the jaw bones, which in turn made more room for the wisdom teeth to grow in straight.

I read an article about a controversial orthodontist or something, who espouses the same theory. This is why whenever skulls are found from before the industrial age, and thus before processed food was common, they have perfectly straight teeth. We were probably evolved to eat much tougher foods than we eat today.

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