Why do humans have wisdom teeth?

A couple of theories:


1. Our ancestors (yes I%26#039;m talking about evolution here) had bigger jaws and extra teeth.


2. The fact that they come in late suggests that they aided in replacing lost teeth, which would have been common for early hominids.





At any rate they are close to being called vestigial, meaning that they don%26#039;t really serve any purpose, but they are left over from evolution. Sort of like limb bones on some snakes.

Why do humans have wisdom teeth?
I don%26#039;t know. Why don%26#039;t you ask a creationist in the science and nature category?
Reply:to aide in the crushing of food. its basicly why a shark has hundreds of teeth just in a less grand scale
Reply:Ironic, isn%26#039;t it?
Reply:I chew with mine.
Reply:Because we%26#039;re Wise???
Reply:Because we are soooooo wise... I actually saved mine after the dentist pulled them all out. They are still in tact. Weird, huh?
Reply:Because they have wisdom
Reply:I would assume it is because we used to wear down our teeth a lot faster-therefore having another set of grinding molars come in in our early to mid 20%26#039;s was very beneficial for survival.
Reply:So dentists can make more money.
Reply:The old ancient bone crackers, set far back in the jaw for that needed strength... had mine removed though, I guess they %26quot;civilized%26quot; me.





Although many people don%26#039;t even develop them now, or develop maybe only two. It seems they are evolving away, because we don%26#039;t need them like our ancestors. The old use it or lose it thing.
Reply:For the same reason a billy goat has a beard.
Reply:cuz ignorance teeth would just be a stupid idea...
Reply:In the early history of humanity, people ate rather rough food, often grains which wore down their back teeth and a second set of teeth grew in to replace them.
Reply:I guess because we have so many stupid teeth afew of them had to have %26quot;wisdom ?%26quot; How do I know, mine had to be surgically taken out and have had jaw problems since.....no pains of wisdom, but alot of jaw pain
Reply:so we can get them pulled out.....or so God can touchier us. I think it was for back in the day of no tooth brush. The teeth would


grow in latter, so they could eat, or chew. Considering back in the day they lost there teeth by 35 or so.
Reply:it%26#039;s like the %26quot;residual tailbone%26quot;


would you like yours removed?
Reply:Because the apes refused to accept them!
Reply:In case some other teeth fall out.
Reply:Probably the same reason that people have their wisdom teeth pulled... evolution!
Reply:Simple answer: That%26#039;s how God created us.



Philosophy