{"id":4539,"date":"2019-05-02T12:20:48","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T19:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/?p=4539"},"modified":"2019-05-02T12:20:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T19:20:48","slug":"some-economic-wisdom-on-wisdom-teeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/2019\/05\/02\/some-economic-wisdom-on-wisdom-teeth\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Economic Wisdom on Wisdom Teeth"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a young woman my dad always told me when getting my oil changed never to buy any of the extra services they offer. Instead, he said I should tell him about it about it and he would talk to the mechanic about anything serious. \u00a0While this follows some harmful gender stereotypes it does highlight the <\/span>asymmetric information<\/span><\/a> between myself and the mechanic. \u00a0Although my dad is by no means a car expert, he at least knows a smidge more about cars to lessen this gap between the information that the seller and buyer have. \u00a0When the seller has more expertise on the product they are able to sell you more services, and mechanics are a classic example. This leads to many to have a distrust of their mechanic and for them to get second opinions. \u00a0Compared to mechanics few distrust their dentists and oral surgeons.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the United States, wisdom teeth extractions is a common procedure and excuse to eat ice cream for a few days. \u00a0Right around the time you gain the right to vote, a dentist usually recommends you get your wisdom teeth removed and refers you to an oral surgeon. \u00a0You set up an appointment and don\u2019t question the procedure. However, <\/span>Dr. Jay Friedman<\/span><\/a> has been questioning the practice now for almost three decades. \u00a0Many oral surgeons are mad about this too as much of their livelihood depends on the routine extraction of wisdom teeth.<\/span><\/p>\n

This rogue dentist published an article in the <\/span>\u201cUS National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health\u201d<\/span><\/a> 12 years ago about this issue of asymmetric information. \u00a0\u201cThe Prophylactic Extraction of Third Molars: A Public Health Hazard\u201d outlines the costs and myths of wisdom teeth removal. \u00a0While some patients do need their wisdom teeth removed for health reasons, many people get they wisdom teeth removed routinely without any evidence that it would cause any problems. \u00a0Friedman writes, \u201cTwo thirds of all third-molar extractions are unnecessary. Eliminating these extractions would reduce the oral and maxillofacial surgeon\u2019s annual income by $347,486, resulting in an annual savings to patients of more than $1.9 billion.\u201d \u00a0This is a lot of money, not to mention pain and sick days, that consumers could save if they avoided unnecessary removal. Often the cost benefit analysis does weigh out to point towards the need of removal. The great pain and dollars spent on removal does not justify the small chance of saving trouble down the road. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While consumers would save, oral surgeons would miss out on profit which is why the practice continues. \u00a0Oral surgeons are able to get away with it to due to asymmetric information. Since oral surgeons are the most educated on the subject everyone trusts them and follows their advice. \u00a0Oral surgeons are incentivized to exaggerate the need of wisdom teeth removal as they profit from the procedure. Dr. Jay Friedman has made it his mission to stop this scheme and has been ostracized from the dental community for it. \u00a0There is hope, wisdom teeth removal has fallen, as <\/span>the British National Institute for Clinical Excellence discouraged the over extraction and a few organization in the United States have started to follow. \u00a0You can also do your part and do your own research on wisdom teeth removal to lessen the disadvantage you have when it comes to information compared to your oral surgeon. \u00a0Of course,while many wisdom teeth are over removed, some removals are necessary. There also ways dentists could teach their patients to floss and brush better so their wisdom teeth do not cause problems but of course this isn\u2019t as profitable as surgery. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a young woman my dad always told me when getting my oil changed never to buy any of the extra services they offer. Instead, he said I should tell him about it about it and he would talk to the mechanic about anything serious. \u00a0While this follows some harmful gender stereotypes it does highlight the asymmetric information between myself and the mechanic. \u00a0Although my dad is by no means a car expert, he at least knows a smidge more about cars to lessen this gap between the information that the seller and buyer have. \u00a0When the seller has more Continue reading Some Economic Wisdom on Wisdom Teeth<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":566,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4539"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4540,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4539\/revisions\/4540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}