Why You Should Be Going To The Dentist

For some reason, people have this extremely weird aversion to going to the dentist. I have honestly never been able to figure out what people hate so much about going to the dentist. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like they are going to kill you or cause you any extreme pain. With modern medicine in this day and age, it’s very rare that you will face any serious pain when going to the dentist. Maybe some mild discomfort, but I am sure you can handle that.

The thing is, if you think about what dental care used to look like a hundred years ago or more, we have it pretty good in 2021. For example, pretty much any operation you could undergo at the dentist will be heavily aided by anesthetic and different types of painkillers. You don’t even have to be awake a lot of the time, depending on what you’re receiving care for at the dentist. I know that for me personally, I was completely knocked out when I had my wisdom teeth removed at the oral surgeon's place. Super great experience to just be completely dead to the world for a hot second, not even aware that I’m still alive or not. I think I imagine death being like that - where you aren’t even able to be aware that you’re dead. You just enter a deep state of sleep forever. 

Anyways, sorry that got a little bit dark. What I am trying to tell you is that you should definitely be going to the dentist at least twice a year, or every six months if that’s easier for you to understand. I have come up with a short list of reasons for why you should be going to the dentist regularly. The first reason is because oral cancer exists, and you might be at risk. I know that’s hard to hear, but I am telling you the truth when I say things can get really bad for you if you have oral cancer. Oral cancer is an extremely serious disease and can manifest itself in your mouth in a variety of ways.

The biggest way to beat oral cancer is to simply catch it early and try to stop it before it gets too bad. Going to the dentist for a regular checkup is critical in being able to quickly catch mouth cancer before it can get worse. Dentists are highly trained to recognize early signs of oral cancer. Even if you may not notice any abnormalities within your mouth, your dentist definitely will and will be able to help you out in the long run.

Another reason that you should be going to the dentist is because they can treat you for plaque, tartar, and cavities. Even if you have great dental hygiene, brush your teeth religiously, and even floss on the regular, you are still susceptible to missing some areas and this can lead to tooth decay. No one enjoys getting their teeth cleaned at the dentist, but there is a reason that they take it so seriously. It’s because a lot of that plaque and tartar needs to be removed before it can develop into cavities and lead to tooth decay. Now get off your chair and go to the dentist!

What The Heck Are Wisdom Teeth And Why Do We Have Them

I had my wisdom teeth taken a few months ago. I was the last of most of my friends and my siblings to have gotten my wisdom teeth removed. I had planned on getting them taken out the summer of 2020 after school let out, but after everything happened with the pandemic, I instead found myself having to wait another full year before I could get my teeth out. Since having to wait so long, the dentists were saying that my teeth would be a bit harder to pull out because they have become a lot more developed. I wasn’t really too worried about the whole process, until I showed up to have them taken out that morning.

As we did the x-rays to make sure of which teeth were going to be removed, the doctors ended up finding two more teeth that were stuck way up in the back part of my mouth. This meant that I had 6 wisdom teeth instead of 4 - a rarity that apparently only occurs in 2% or less of the population. I was scared after learning this news because I didn’t want my parents to have to pay more money to the surgeon and I didn’t want to have more complications with the surgery. However, the dental surgeon assured me that it would not cost extra to get them out and that it would be a simple addition to those extra teeth.

Getting my wisdom teeth removed got me thinking; why the heck do we have wisdom teeth? It seems like the only purpose for those dumb teeth is to absolutely screw up people’s mouths and cause a lot of pain and problems for people. So I did some research about wisdom teeth and it actually turned up some pretty interesting stuff. I was curious what people did before modern medicine when their wisdom teeth came in.

I mean, if we have to have such advanced medicine and anesthetic available to comfortably get those teeth, what happened to some peasant in the 1500s who needed to get those suckers removed? Well I didn’t find the exact answers to my question that I wanted to, but I did find some pretty interesting stuff. It turns out that 85% of Americans have their wisdom teeth taken out, and only 2% of people that don’t get their wisdom teeth taken out can make it through life without those 3rd molars becoming cavities or leading to gum disease or something. So it begs the question, what’s the point of those 3rd molars if they exist simply to destroy our precious mouths?

Well, some research suggests that those molars were more useful to our ancestors that lived more hunter/gatherer lifestyles, which could make sense because their mouths were better suited for crushing and eating plants and seeds that they come across. It is also said that the human brain has increased in size by a significant amount over time (which is why I’m smarter than every person who lived before the year 1200) and this meant that it had to expand the size of our brain cavity in our head. Consequently, human jaws have been shrinking to make room for the brain to increase in size and our wisdom teeth in back have just had to deal with it I suppose. Another interesting thing about wisdom teeth is that they are completely made up.