Vestigiality of wisdom teeth in relation to human evolution and lifestyle modification: A cross-sectional study.

Bharathi, A. Alagu Rathi; Babu, K. Yuvaraj; Mohanraj, Karthik Ganesh

Introduction: "Vestigial" refers to a rudimentary, atrophied, degenerated, or nonfunctioning structure, which is the remnant of an organ or structure that was fully developed or functioning in a preceding generation or an earlier stage of development. The third molar tooth is often referred as "Wisdom teeth." It affects other teeth as they develop and emerge becoming impacted. The aim of the present study is to analyze the vestigiality of wisdom teeth in relation to modern food and diet modification by surveying. Materials and Methods: The vestigiality of wisdom teeth is analyzed by observing all the wisdom teeth (maxillary and mandibular third molar teeth) in a total sample of 50 adolescent subjects. The lifestyle and nature of food habits of all the patients were analyzed by subjecting them to a list of standard questionnaires. The survey focused mainly on food habits in their routine life. Results: On compilation and complete analyses of the entire questionnaire, two broad categorization was made: (i) On their "food habits" such as the type of food preferred (non-vegetarian or vegetarian), frequency of eating vegetarian/non-vegetarian foods and junk food eaters. (ii) "On teeth and its arrangements" such as crowding of teeth, eruption of Wisdom teeth and preference on using wisdom teeth for chewing. All these categorized data were evaluated and graphically represented. Conclusion: It is evident that the skulls of human ancestors had larger jaws with more teeth which served to chew foliage to compensate for lack of ability to efficiently digest the cellulose. Since human diets changed smaller jaws gradually evolved yet the wisdom teeth still commonly develop.

THIRD molars; LIFESTYLES & health; FOOD habits; JUNK food; VESTIGIAL organs

Drug Invention Today, 2018, Vol 10, Issue 10, p1899

0975-7619

Academic Journal