Oral Care
ARE ANIMALS EXEMPT FROM WISDOM TEETH PROBLEMS?
For people, about 80% have problematic wisdom teeth, causing toothache, gum disease, and cysts. Oral maxillofacial surgeons have had to extract these offending teeth, which, apparently, serve no purpose since we have evolved from our Neanderthal roots. This is largely because we don’t have the same lifestyle anymore. While our ancestors have had to rough it out, we have been fortunate enough to get food from the grocery that we have not exactly hunted. We also have the luxury of cooking these foods into more flavorful, palatable and chewable dishes. Gone are the days when we have had no choice but to eat tough bloody meat that our now blunted teeth could not even chew through (except when sliced thinly, as in sushi).
In the wild, our animal friends also have third molars. However, unlike us, they have enough space for them to grow properly because their lifestyle has been more or less the same—they hunt and eat in the same manner, with prey of the same texture, using teeth instead of utensils to break the meat down. As such, their third molar is truly of use to them. It gives them enough grip on the food, and ample force for masticating tough substances like raw cow hide, or the legs of a gazelle. By virtue of having a good use of their wisdom teeth, the arch of their mouths can accommodate it. As such, they do not have the kind of wisdom teeth problems we do.