Wisdom teeth, also known as third molars, are the last teeth to appear in your mouth, occurring normally 17 and 25 years of age, a time of life called the “Age of Wisdom”.
Anthropologists have noted that the rough diet of early humans resulted in the excessive wearing out of their teeth. The normal drifting of teeth to compensate for this wear and tear ensured that space was available for most wisdom teeth to grow.
The modern diet that is considerably softer and some tooth-aligning procedures produce a fuller dental arch, which quite commonly doesn’t leave room for the wisdom teeth, thereby setting the stage for problems when they actually start to grow. The average jaw is made to hold only 28 teeth and can be painful when 32 teeth try to fit into that space! These four other teeth are your Third Molars – the famed “wisdom teeth”.