Dear GLP -- Should I have my wisdom teeth pulled? (POLL)

POLL: To Pull or Not to Pull, that is the question!
Yes - pull them! You'll be glad you did.
Yes - Pull them because TS will HTF *soon*.
Yes - but only pull the 'darker' one
No - if it ain't broke, don't fix it
Blank (View Results)

So before you vote – here’s the scenario.

I hate going to the dentist but my husband insisted that it had been a long time (4 years) and I needed to go. So… this morning I went. I got a cleaning (which is good, and apparently I must do a good job of flossing and brushing because the hygienist was impressed with how little there was to ‘scrape’). Then the dentist came in….

So I knew that I had lost a filling that needed to be redone, and I knew I needed to get my other mercury fillings replaced, so I talked with him about that and he agreed that would be a good thing to do and wouldn’t be painful at all. But then he said he recommended me getting my wisdom teeth pulled.

I have all four. There are no cavities in them, but one of them (the bottom left) is ‘darker’ on top and there wasn’t enough room for it to grow, so it is partially covered (20%) by a flap of tissue from my gums. They also grew in straight and are not crooked at all. I don’t really have any problems with them ever, except for the one I mentioned because sometimes I dig back there to make sure there’s not food trapped behind it.

His reasoning for pulling them was that the ‘dark’ one is partially covered, it should come out – and if it comes out, the top left one should come out too. And to prevent problems with my regular molars over time in case I get cavities in my other two wisdom teeth that could ‘infect’ the regular molars I should just go ahead and have those pulled as well.

I am usually an ‘if it isn’t broke don’t fix it’ kind of girl, but then I’m a believer in preventing problems down the line to (I like to be prepared after all) and if TS is going to HTF soon (and after reading all that stuff about wargaming against teapartiers this morning) wouldn’t it be prudent for me to do the preventative thing and have them pulled?

So even though the idea of pulling teeth makes me feel sort of anxious and queasy (I have never had a tooth pulled before) I scheduled it for the end of this month when he will be redoing my mercury fillings with porcelain.

Then I told my husband and he was aghast that I was going to have my wisdom teeth pulled. Then when I got to work I told a couple of my coworkers who were also aghast… And now I wonder… WTF? Should I do it or not?

I hate going to the dentist but if I have to get teeth pulled I want to just get it over with and be done with it. But… there’s nothing really wrong with them -- so should I mess with them at all?

So I put the question to you, dear GLP, if you were me – what would you do?

I would love to hear anecdotal stories for either side and if there are any dentists or hygienists out there... I would love to hear your opinion from a professional standpoint.