Hi! I’m Alistair King and I am one of the orthodontists here at Central Coast Orthodontics. This morning I was with one of my patients Josh from Avoca. He is a young adult in his early twenties. He was concerned about his crooked lower front teeth and he said it happened after his wisdom teeth came through. 

Now I always get a lot of questions about wisdom teeth, so I thought I would share a few pieces of information with you to help perhaps clear up some of the myths.

Wisdom teeth are the third and last molars, found at the very back on each side of the upper and lower jaws, and are the final teeth to grow through the gums. They usually appear in the mouth when a person is in their late teens or early twenties. Wisdom teeth can erupt without problems, however sometimes, they have insufficient space to erupt properly and become stuck or “impacted”.

Not everyone has wisdom teeth, in fact it is possible to have none at all. Sometimes people might only have one, two or three. Modern humans tend not to need wisdom teeth as much as our ancestors did, as we generally now eat softer diets, meaning our teeth don’t wear down as much. The change in diet also means our jaws are smaller than they used to be, so there tends to be less room.

It’s great if your wisdom teeth manage to fit and they can become useful teeth. However for many, they might only come through partway and this means they can be really hard to keep clean, which raises the possibility that they might get infected. This can be a problem and for some people who have experienced this, it might be better for them to have them removed by their dentist or an oral surgeon. 

Some people actually feel that their wisdom teeth have caused their other teeth to become crooked as they saw some changes in their tooth position around the same time as their wisdom teeth appeared. In fact, research has shown that movement of the front teeth is a common occurrence during your late teens or early 20’s, even if you don’t have any wisdom teeth present at all!

This tooth movement is generally thought to be caused by small changes in the shape of the jawbones as well as a change in pressure from the surrounding soft tissues, not by the wisdom teeth themselves. This means that you shouldn’t have your wisdom teeth taken out just to prevent crooked teeth in the future. Now there may be other reasons to remove wisdom teeth, such as infection, but preventing crowding isn’t one of them!

After your orthodontic treatment, you will always be given retainers to hold things where they are supposed to be. As long as you look after your retainers well and wear them correctly, you should be able to have straight teeth for as long as you want!

So I hope you found this video useful. And if you or your child do have crooked teeth, and want to do something about them, we would love to help. We are conveniently located in both Gosford and Erina. Simply give us a call, complete the enquiry form on the website, or send us a direct message on social media, and we will help you organise your appointment that is closest to you. See you in the next video!

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