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In response to the question, "The Unresolved Problem of the Third Molar: Would People Be Better Off Without It?" (Drs. Anthony Silvestri Jr. and Iqbal Singh, April JADA), I would like to relate my personal experience.

Up until my late 70s, I had a full dentition with fully erupted functioning third molars on the left side and no third molars on the right side. In the past few years, the upper right and left first molars had to be extracted.

The quote from the first paragraph in the article, "third molars add little to the chewing efficiency of the dentition," does not hold true in my case. My chewing efficiency on the side with third molars in place is a good 50 percent better than the side with no third molars. Now, in my early 80s, I would love to have functioning third molars on both sides.

I realize that mine is a very specialized situation. However, there probably are many other specialized situations where the presence of a third molar could be critical.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ettinger, M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Ettinger, M.