Wisdom teeth do not necessarily have to be removed. Some people have enough space in their jaw to let wisdom teeth come in and are able to clean them. When wisdom teeth emerge, they can cause ...

The decision to remove wisdom teeth often seems like a routine part of young adulthood. But more people are starting to ask whether it’s always necessary. Those who oppose automatically taking out ...

Q: What are wisdom teeth? A: Technically speaking, wisdom teeth are considered “third molars.” They are generally the last teeth to erupt, and they typically do so during the teenage years. All told, ...

For older teens and young adults, the extraction of so-called wisdom teeth is a painful rite of passage. A new study suggests it’s likely made more perilous by the package of narcotic pain pills that ...

Tooth extractions, including ones involving infection, periodontal disease and crowding issues, are one of the most common dental procedures. An estimated 10 million wisdom teeth are extracted from ...

Wisdom teeth removal, a common procedure typically performed during the teen years, may contribute to long-term drug use. Scientists from the University of Michigan studied how opioid painkillers ...

Young people who take opioids after surgery may develop an addiction to them. Researchers at the University of Michigan found young people between the ages of 13 and 30 are nearly three times more ...

A new study challenges the belief that pulling wisdom teeth has a negative effect on taste. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine found that extraction not only can ...

Driver’s license, prom, ridding the body of vestigial teeth. All rites of passage for American adolescents. So things were right on track when, after a routine dentist visit during my oldest child’s ...

Last Tuesday, 17-year-old Sydney Galleger, a high school senior in Minnesota, went to get her wisdom teeth removed, a procedure that’s considered low-risk and a rite of passage for many young adults.

A Minnesota teen is fighting for her life after suffering cardiac arrest during routine wisdom tooth extraction. Seventeen-year-old Sydney Galleger was taken to Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital, ...

Our grandparents and parents tell stories about the time when kids routinely had their tonsils removed. But for people born in the 1960s and later, their routine surgery stories are about having third ...