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An Inconvenient Tooth

I've had a one of those damn wisdom teeth causing me some grief lately. What a pain. And what nonsense.

It's my view that evolution has generally done an excellent job in developing stuff that 'just works' and eases out stuff that just doesn't. But when it comes to human teeth 'design', evolution gets a clear 'D-' from me a least. The wisdom teeth in particular, what a joke.

Really, why can't our teeth do what sharks' teeth do? You know, bite through anything and, if you lose a tooth, well hey - grow a new one...all part of a days work! No, no...ours have to chip, get crooked, acquire 'cavaties' and 'decay', we need fillings and crowns or get them removed entirely, and blah, blah, blah.. And even if you do happen to be genetically blessed with a strong and straight set of teeth, and even if you have taken care of them all your life, you've still got a good chance that those bastard wisdoms are going to randomly stir into action and cause mysery. Bah!

I've been brought up to believe widom teeth are artifacts of our evolutionary process. Or could it be, as some are arguing, that the wisdom tooth is in fact an 'inconvenient tooth', that it is clear evidence of intelligent design and not a vestigal organ? (I didn't realise teeth were organs?...)

If wisdom teeth are the product of an 'intelligent designer', I have to ask - what the hell was he (or she) smoking when they were at the drawing board?

Posted: Dec 06 2006, 11:29 PM by alexbarnett | with 7 comment(s)
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Comments

MissM said:

I wouldn't be willing to give up gray matter space for more teeth, would you? :)

# December 7, 2006 7:05 AM

Danny said:

Absolutely.

Best title ever!

# December 7, 2006 7:35 AM

Haacked said:

> If wisdom teeth are the product of an 'intelligent

> designer', I have to ask - what the hell was he (or

> she) smoking when they were at the drawing board?

I wonder the same thing about the Platypus.  Must've been smoking some good stuff when the "intelligent designer" came up with that.

# December 7, 2006 8:59 AM

Marc Brooks said:

Wisdom teeth are intended to come in late in life to push-forward/close-up to replace teeth that have been lost by use... if you didn't have a nice dentist filling your teeth, some of them surely would have fallen out before your wisdom teeth have come it. It's all very sharkish.

As for cavities, start eating raw veggies, grains and fruit instead of those fru-fru candies and you'll see a marked decrease in that problem too.

For someone that seems to think evolution is a reasonable explaination of how we got to where we are, you are giving very little credit to the evironment that our VERY RECENT past was like.

# December 7, 2006 10:56 PM

alexbarnett said:

thanks for dropping by Marc.

I'll eat more raw vegatables, as you suggest. How many would you recommend?

# December 7, 2006 11:13 PM

Marc Brooks said:

Oh, however many it takes... feel like a snickers? Try a carrot... still hungry, I recommend a raw yam/sweet potato... both will scrape your teeth clean in no time.

p.s. In case it wasn't obvious, I was trying to be a little sarcastic... no offense intended :)

# December 7, 2006 11:40 PM

Frank La Vigne said:

One of my remaining wisdom teeth has decided to cause me trouble and I've been in agony for the past 48 hours...

# February 16, 2008 9:03 PM