Wisdom Tooth - Treatment Controversy

Treatment Controversy

Preventive removal of the third molars is a common practice in developed countries and is usually recommended by dentists. According to Pediatric Dentistry: Infancy Through Adolescence, 4th Edition:

Evaluation of third molars is usually completed during mid- to late adolescence. Parents commonly ask about treating these teeth. The reasons for extraction of third molars include impaction or failure to erupt; potential or existing pathosis such as cysts or ameloblastoma; decay; posteruption malposition; nonfunction as a result of an absent opposing tooth; difficulty with hygiene; and recurrent pericoronitis. If any of these are considerations, third molars should be removed during adolescence.... The evaluation of developing third molars in adolescent athletes is of particular importance. Not only can an athletic season suddenly be interrupted by the annoying and often painful eruption of third molars with associated acute pericoronitis, but mandibular fractures in the gonial angle region of developing third molars can also occur in adolescent athletes.

Several dental textbooks encourage the removal of third molars. From Contemporary Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 5th Edition:

As a general rule, all impacted teeth should be removed unless removal is contraindicated. Extraction should be performed as soon as the dentist determines that the tooth is impacted. Removal of impacted teeth becomes more difficult with advancing age. The dentist should typically not recommend that impacted teeth be left in place until they cause difficulty. If the tooth is left in place until problems arise, the patient may experience an increased incidence of local tissue morbidity, loss of or damage to adjacent teeth and bone, and potential injury to adjacent vital structures. Additionally, if removal of impacted teeth is deferred until they cause problems later in life, surgery is more likely to be complicated and hazardous because the patient may have compromising systemic diseases and the surrounding bone becomes more dense. A fundamental precept of the philosophy of dentistry is that problems should be prevented. Preventive dentistry dictates that impacted teeth are to be removed before complications arise unless removal will cause more serious problems.

The rationale of prophylactically removing third molars prior to their complete root formation is that the likelihood of nerve damage or other complications is extremely low. This is not the case however with symptomatic removal of a third molar after root formation is complete and more intimate with the inferior alveolar nerve and as the mandible becomes more dense with age.

However, studies have shown that dentists graduated from different countries—or even from different dental schools in the same country—may have different clinical decisions regarding third molar removal for the same clinical condition. For example, dentists graduated from Israeli dental schools may recommend more often for the removal of asymptomatic impacted third molar than dentists graduated from Latin-American or Eastern European dental schools.