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I've had good smile all my life but now at 41 I've started to feel a tightness between my teeth.

Lo and behold I read that as we age the jaws shrink which makes the teeth crowd together.

I'm going for a free mouth scan in a couple weeks.

Wouldn't be such a big deal if we didn't keep all our teeth, but we do now. The migration forward as we age, plus wisdom teeth are evolutionary holdovers.

Fun fact, I have one fully grown in wisdom tooth. The rest are still there, but never moved. My dentist is always after me to get all of them removed, telling me that they won't fill a cavity on the grown in one

You should find a new Dentist if that's their response. There's no reason to take out a healthy tooth if it's not impacting your quality of life or there are other issues.

Sounds like your Dentist is chasing $ over sense. My better half is a DDS, and they see quite a few patients wherein others in the field put their opinions and revenue over their hippocratic oath.

I'm 50 and still have all mine. One of them is at a 90 degree angle pointing forward as well.

I grew up in a time/place where you never went to the dentist or doctor unless if you were pretty much dying, but at least times are changing now.

And conversely having all of your teeth, and straight ones at that, help prevent jaw wasting.

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