Wisdom Teeth: Perspectives from the Military

In previous discussions on this blog such as Third Molar Morbidity Among Troops Deployed and elsewhere, a discussion has been made about whether or not wisdom teeth should be extracted in those involved in the armed forces. A new article from Hurlbert Field titled “Wisdom teeth: Should they stay or go” provides a perspective by Staff Sgt. Jeff Andrejcik, was written on December 3, 2013, and is located over at http://www2.hurlburt.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123372876. The article is written by a special operations dentist who performs wisdom teeth extractions. He says he has removed over 300 wisdom teeth and once removed 8 in one patient. He says in the article that most people don’t have room for wisdom teeth and they grow in sideways and are not cleansable. Larkin discusses how pericoronitis can occur in patients who have wisdom teeth that erupt but not fully leaving … Read more