Q: My two lower wisdom teeth and one tooth adjacent to it has been extracted. The wisdom teeth have not been replaced but one tooth adjacent to it has been replaced. Now, one of my upper wisdom tooth has started creating problems. The doctor says that it has to be extracted but another one says that root canal therapy needs to be done. What should I do? Extraction is very painful. I take good oral care of my teeth brushing them at least three times daily. But is the reason of all the above tooth problems and the precaution I can take to avoid them in future?

A:By and large the wisdom teeth are non-functional and we do not like to do complicated treatment like root canal to save them. If however it's a question of simple treatment like a filling, then we may not extract the wisdom tooth. Doing a root canal to save wisdom teeth can be justified if the wisdom tooth is necessary to support some restoration or the wisdom tooth in the opposite jaw is also present.