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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is an iHeart Podcast.
Guaranteed human. 2%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%, I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world.
Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person.
Listen to 2%, that's T-W-O percent, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
On the Look Back At It podcast.
1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me.
I'm Sam Jay.
And I'm Alex English.
Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.
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Chapter 2: What are wisdom teeth and when do they typically come in?
Okay, but I feel like, yeah, I feel like it's definitely older than that, the skulls are. But the people, when you start researching wisdom teeth, they're like, yeah, the human diet got soft, so our teeth got kind of wuss, and our skulls got shorter and smaller, and hence... When we get wisdom teeth, there's just not enough room for them because we don't need them anymore.
But stupid natural selection hasn't caught up yet and keeps producing wisdom teeth in modern Homo sapiens that don't need it because we eat a deviled ham. Right.
I mean, that makes sense to me, right? You're just saying the timeline doesn't match up?
Yeah. Yeah. It makes sense for sure. It's the timeline.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I don't question the timeline. That's your first mistake.
Yeah.
You know what, though? When I was researching this, I found there's apparently a creationist argument. They use the wisdom teeth as a vestigial thing, as an argument for creationism, because apparently a lot of people are like, Well, it's clearly evolution. Explain that, creationists. And they're like, how about this?
You're supposed to have three molars, but because of this modern human diet that we all agree is making the third molar superfluous, that's what did it. You're supposed to have it. But it's the human intervention that kept us from being able to use it, and that's the problem. So I thought that was kind of fascinating. Interesting. Take that, podcaster.
Yeah, because they took the argument that people who believe in natural selection use and turned it on them. They flipped the script. Very well put.
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Chapter 3: How do wisdom teeth relate to evolutionary changes in humans?
Supposedly, your dentist should essentially tell you, let's take a wait and see approach to this. You know, like get your teeth checked every six months and we'll keep an eye on it. And if they start to come in wonky, we'll get rid of them. But wisdom teeth can come in normal, healthy, can actually help.
promote further bone growth and stabilization and development to help your teeth stay in your head better. In that case, you shouldn't remove your wisdom teeth. You shouldn't also, I think, prophylactically remove them just in case they come in wonky. That's supposedly the consensus or that should be the consensus that you shouldn't take them out proactively.
And this University of Saskatchewan evolutionary anthropologist, Julia Bonner, she's basically comparing getting your wisdom teeth removed unnecessarily to what we used to do with kids getting their tonsils removed.
Oh, yeah. Interesting. You know, part of the problem with my teeth that are no longer a part of my body was bone loss. So I'm wondering if I would have benefited by leaving those wisdom teeth in there.
Probably. Sure. I mean, like it definitely helps you keep generating bone, but also like I was saying earlier, you have to also eat hard foods too. Nothing but like rock candy.
Yeah. I also don't remember my deal. I just remember they were like, you need your wisdom teeth out. Like, I don't remember if they were impacted or what the deal was. I feel like I remember them coming, erupting a little bit. But I also don't trust my memory of that. The only thing I remember is coming out of the anesthesia and hallucinating. Did I ever tell this story?
It sounds vaguely familiar, but you should definitely tell.
Yeah, I came out when I was 17 of my first anesthetic experience and hallucinated a poster on the wall that said locomotive lasagna. And then later on, obviously, it was a poster of whatever, like some sort of dental poster. But my theory is, is that they were screwing with me and switch out this weird poster for For children coming off their first drug experience.
That's awesome. That would be a fun thing to do. I'll bet the cursing dentist does that.
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Chapter 4: How has the human diet influenced the need for wisdom teeth?
Let's write this together. I'm Bernie Taupin. Okay. Locomotive lasagna, what's going on ya? Oh, man. Genius. This thing just writes itself. It really does. We should say there's another reason besides this surgery being potentially unnecessary for why you should wait and see. Keep an eye on your wisdom teeth rather than have them taken out. There's risks to having oral surgery.
Like you can damage nerves and tissue and your jawbone. Like sometimes, I know Yumi, she said her oral surgeon was sweating. He was having so much trouble pulling hers out. She just got local anesthetic and she regretted it quite a bit. Yeah. And the guy was working hard.
So it can actually cause damage to get your wisdom teeth removed, which is why they say if they're healthy and they're in, just leave them alone.
Yeah. And she should have known this was coming because he had a baseball cap on that said, never let him see you sweat. And he just turned it around backwards when she got in the chair.
That's right. Man, can you imagine having your dentist sweat on you? No, that's not a good look. No. I guess short stuff's out. Don't you agree?
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