Why About Everything?

What purpose Do Wisdom Teeth Serve?

Wisdom teeth are commonly regarded as being useless to modern man. But because nature rarely provides us with useless body parts, a little investigation yields a more satisfying answer. Primitive man ate meats so tough that they make beef jerky feel like mashed potatoes in comparison. The extra molars in the back of the mouth, now are known as wisdom teeth, undoubtedly aided in our ancestors mastication.

       As humans have evolved, their brains have gotten progressive larger and the face position has moved farther downward and inward. About the time that primitive man started walking in an upright position, other changes in the facial structure occurred. The protruding jawbones of early man gradually moved backward, making the jaw itself shorter and leaving no room for the wisdom teeth. Most people's jaws no longer have the capacity to accommodate these four, now superfluous teeth.