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Wisdom teeth present a curious problem in the world of dentistry. In general, dentists do not like to extract living teeth unless it is called for, in the case when it is very decayed and infected.

It sometimes seems like the only reason we still have wisdom teeth are to make dentists money. After all, these teeth do not erupt when the other teeth do, frequently not having enough space to erupt as a result, and are the most likely candidates for inflammation and tooth decay.

Recurring oral problems are very often caused by improper oral hygiene, and by being exposed to the same microbes and the same pathogens over and over, time and time again. This is because we eat the way we do, have oral flora that is the way it is, and encounter the same microbes from the air, from the people we kiss, from the foods we eat, as each ecosystem and climate has its own set of microbes and bacterial life that flourish on it. One of the places that microbial life flourishes is the toothbrush.

Some recent favourites are advanced surgical tools and techniques, nano-science to clean up your blood and organs with microscopic robots and active parts, wonder drugs that seem to manage (if not cure) old nemeses, like cancer and AIDS, advanced screening and pre-emptive procedures, and the ever increasing use of stem cells to completely re-grow and regenerate tissues, organs and pretty soon, even limbs.

The science of dentistry is always trying to find new ways to make materials safer, more accessible, easier to produce, and more biocompatible. Dental implants are always being moulded to look like, weigh, and in all other dimensions resemble the thing they are supposed to replace; tooth roots.