Why do we now have knowledge tooth? | EUROtoday

On May 31, 2025

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CMysterious tenants from the underside of our mouth seem on the daybreak of maturity. While our ultimate tooth properly settles between 6 and 13 years outdated, their knowledge tooth tackle all their time. They start to type below the gum across the age of 10, however solely deign to level the tip of their enamel solely on the threshold of maturity, between 18 and 25 years. They patiently wait till we now have (in principle) turn into wiser.

It shouldn’t be a coincidence that their identify evokes maturity. The Greeks known as them sōfronista phrase that smells good knowledge and prudence. The look of those tooth would subsequently be, in accordance with custom, the seal of acquired motive. Our English and German neighbors share this imaginative and prescient, baptizing these molars Wisdom Teeth Or Weisheitszähne.

The extra pragmatic Turks converse of “20 -year -old teeth”, whereas in Arabic, we evoke “teeth of reason”. But why did the satan nature have seen match to endow us with these third molars, usually capricious, generally absent, and virtually at all times sources of debate within the dentist?

No extra mammoth steak

To perceive this evolutionary whim, it’s essential to return in time, lengthy earlier than the invention of dental thread and smoothies. Imagine our ancestors, the Australopithecus, three to 4 million years in the past. Their extensive and highly effective jaw, would have made any boxer pale with envy. Their thick and sturdy tooth had been lower to grind in another way powerful meals than our tender trendy pastries: roots, fibrous crops, uncooked meat …

The fossils of Lucy and his fellows testify to this time when chewing was a fight sport. The highly effective jaw muscle tissues had been hooked up to huge bones, and the three molars by half-maschire, of which our well-known knowledge tooth, had been important to grind a prehistoric menu.

But now, humanity has advanced. Agriculture, cooking, meals conservation has reworked our weight loss plan. No extra mammoth steak. Our meals have turn into extra tender, simpler to swallow, and our jaws, much less confused, have regularly shrunk. Result: our faces have flattened, our jaws have refined, however our genes haven’t but obtained the memo. Wisdom tooth subsequently proceed to level the tip of their enamel, usually cramped, generally even with out invitation.

A gradual disappearance

To uncover

The kangaroo of the day

Answer

Today, round 25 % of individuals have no less than one tooth of utterly absent knowledge, which implies that it has by no means pushed, as if nature, uninterested in this cumbersome vestige, was beginning to clear up. Scientists suspect our genes of being liable for this gradual disappearance, a particular benefit for these whose trendy jaw not has the place to welcome the latter.

But for the others, the spell is usually much less delicate. In the absence of area, the knowledge tooth could be caught within the jaw, or to emerge solely half, inflicting ache, cavities and irritation. Should we systematically tear them off? No means ! If they’re effectively aligned, utterly in and out good well being, knowledge tooth can stay in place, silent witnesses of our evolutionary heritage. A superb brushing, somewhat dental wire, and they are going to be a part of the oral panorama with out historical past.

https://www.lepoint.fr/eureka/pourquoi-avons-nous-des-dents-de-sagesse-30-05-2025-2590888_4706.php