<P> Wisdom teeth (often notated clinically as M3 for third molar) have long been identified as a source of problems and continue to be the most commonly impacted teeth in the human mouth . The oldest known impacted wisdom tooth belonged to a European woman of the Magdalenian period (18,000--10,000 BCE). A lack of room to allow the teeth to erupt results in a risk of periodontal disease and dental cavities that increases with age . Less than 2% of adults age 65 years or older maintain the teeth without cavities or periodontal disease and 13% maintain unimpacted wisdom teeth without cavities or periodontal disease . </P> <P> Impacted wisdom teeth are classified by the direction and depth of impaction, the amount of available space for tooth eruption and the amount soft tissue or bone that covers them . The classification structure allows clinicians to estimate the probabilities of impaction, infections and complications associated with wisdom teeth removal . Wisdom teeth are also classified by the presence of symptoms and disease . </P> <P> Treatment of an erupted wisdom tooth is the same as any other tooth in the mouth . If impacted, treatment can be localized to the infected tissue overlying the impaction, extraction or coronectomy . </P> <P> Although formally known as third molars, the common name is wisdom teeth because they appear so late--much later than the other teeth, at an age where people are presumably "wiser" than as a child, when the other teeth erupt . The term probably came as a translation of the Latin dens sapientiae . Their eruption has been known to cause dental issues for centuries; it was noted at least as far back as Aristotle: </P>

What is the medical term for removing wisdom teeth