In September 2011, the New York Times published a column called “The Wisdom of Removing That Tooth”. The title is a reference to the fact that wisdom teeth are called wisdom teeth in English.
It was written by New York Times medical reporter Ronnie Karen Rabin, who based her story on a conversation she had with a dentist about her daughter’s wisdom teeth.
He says his dentist advised him, “It’s fine now, but in the middle of the semester, maybe during exams, the (tooth) problem could get worse, and then you’ll have to drop out of school and have your wisdom teeth removed, so it’s better to do it early.” Even then, there was opposition.
“Does everybody take out their appendix because of the risk of appendicitis?” Dr. Greg Huang, then chair of the orthodontic department at the University of Washington School of Dentistry in Seattle, asked the newspaper.
Today, wisdom teeth extractions are not as common as they used to be. According to the British polling organization Yugove, over the past few decades, there’s been more evidence that pulling out undiseased wisdom teeth does more harm than good.
The UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) began to discourage ideal wisdom tooth extraction in 2000. In 2008, the American Public Health Association issued a statement against the extraction of third molars without disease.
However, other organizations, such as the American Dental Association, have not made similar changes to their recommendations.
Only 26% of Under-30s Have Their Wisdom Teeth Removed
Yugove found in a recent survey that while most older adults in the United States have had their wisdom teeth removed, most younger adults have not. Specifically, two-thirds of Americans aged 45 and older have had all of their wisdom teeth removed.
However, this figure drops to 49% for those aged 40-44 and 46% for those aged 35-39. It even drops to 36% for 30-34 year olds, our MZ generation, and only 26% of wisdom teeth extractions are done for those under 30.
Yugove also found that two-thirds (67%) of Americans who turned 20 before 2000 had their wisdom teeth extracted, but that number dropped to 48% for those who turned 20 between 2000 and 2008.
By simple math, that’s a 19 percentage point drop. From 2009-2015, only 35% of Americans who turned 20 had their wisdom teeth extracted.
The survey also looked at wisdom tooth extraction by gender and region. In the United States, more women (58%) than men (46%) have had their wisdom teeth extracted.
By region, the Midwest had the highest percentage of tooth extraction experiences at 60%, while the Northeast had the lowest at 47%.
So, should you or shouldn’t you have your wisdom teeth removed? We all know the answer. Your dentist will tell you when it’s time. A Yelp survey found that many Americans trust their dentist to make good judgment calls about when to remove wisdom teeth. Fifty-seven percent of respondents said that dentists always or mostly remove wisdom teeth when it’s medically necessary.
In Korea, the Korean Dental Association also recommends seeing a dentist. According to the association’s Facebook page, if your wisdom teeth are painless and straight, you don’t need to have them removed, but you should brush your teeth carefully to prevent cavities and visit your dentist regularly.
Also, even if wisdom teeth are invisible and painless, they could be lurking in ambush, so it’s safe to have them checked. It’s generally recommended to have a dental checkup around the age of 20, even if you don’t have any symptoms.
In addition, pregnant women often avoid taking medication when their wisdom teeth become inflamed because they are worried about the fetus. Therefore, it’s important to have your wisdom teeth checked at the same time as planning your pregnancy.
Americans are ‘dentaling’ abroad because of cost
The United States is often considered a dental powerhouse. There are many famous dental schools and hospitals, including Columbia University in New York City. However, the cost is a problem: even if you just need a crown for a chipped tooth, it can cost around $2000 (about $280) per tooth.
I chipped a molar in the US in 2021 and paid $1700 (about $240) with a student discount. I spent a month’s worth of living expenses on a tooth.
This is why many Americans travel abroad for dental care. In April, Business Insider contributor Alison Kaplan wrote about her experience visiting a dental clinic in Turkiye.
He was traveling in the western coastal city of Datca, in the province of Turkiye, when he stopped by a nearby dentist one Friday afternoon. The checkup was free, and he paid $15 for a panoramic x-ray.
However, he was later advised to have one of his wisdom teeth extracted because it was ambushed, which he did the following Monday. It cost her $183, including $49 for the scaling and $110 for the extraction.
The dentist also gave Kaplan his Whatsapp number, Facebook’s messaging service, and told him to contact him if he had any questions.
In California, where he lives, a new patient consultation costs about $400, an x-ray costs $165, and a wisdom tooth extraction costs between $200 and $400, Kaplan said, and that doesn’t include anesthesia.
In other words, Kaplan saved $700 on dental surgery in Turkuye, the equivalent of a month’s travel expenses.
Writer. Hyuntaek Lee
A former newspaper reporter who worked for 18 years at The New York Times and . She is currently working as a freelance contributor and planning the second act of her life. In addition to journalism, she has worked in broadcast public relations and marketing at JTBC and Edelman Global Advisory in the United States. She is a recipient of a U.S. State Department Fulbright Humphrey Fellowship and a Google Asia-Pacific Newsroom Leadership Fellow. His hobby and specialty is writing reference books, and he has co-authored the , series, and .
