This question is pondered by most young adults and their parents.  There is no absolute answer to this.  Most modern humans do not have enough room for 32 secondary (adult) teeth. 

Not all wisdom teeth need to be removed.  If the wisdom teeth (3rd molars) erupt, have enough room and are able to be cleaned by the patient there is no need to have them removed.

At the other end of the scale, some wisdom teeth stay fully under the gum line and covered by bone, the are called full bony impactions.  There are rare circumstances when the follicles of fully impacted lower wisdom teeth can transform into cysts or worse.  It is impossible to predict if this will happen.  My father, Luciano Vincenzo Don Giovanni Caputo, lived to be 86 with a fully impacted lower right wisdom tooth which never bothered him and never bothered me.

Most often, the upper wisdom teeth eventually erupt, many times outward and into the cheeks, causing pain and the inability to clean them.  It is best to have these removed.  As I did for a staff member, last evening.  Krista seems to be doing well today, eating pizza.  Cheryl the bookkeeper here, is shocked and amazed how “nomal Krista is today.”  Most commonly the lowers partially erupt, trap food, cause recurrent swelling, infection and cause tooth decay between and on both these third molars and the important second molars in front of them.

If you have any questions you would like personally answered, please call the Palm Harbor, Tampa FL dentist office of Paul L Caputo, DDS at 727 789 1333.