Removal of wisdom teeth has become commonplace in western countries. Based on evolutionary training, many dentists assume that wisdom teeth are "vestigial," useless evolutionary left-overs from our simian ancestry when jaws were larger.

In an article on whale evolution (Natural History 5/94) peppered with negative remarks toward creationists, Steven J. Gould of Harvard, perhaps one of the more strident anti-creationists today, stated:

Four-legged animals have at least as many back problems as humans. Think of the race horse with back-related lameness, or the Dachshund with a slipped disk. Any veterinarian will tell of the multitude of pets and livestock who had to be "put down" because of back problems. In the wild, animals fare no better.

As one might imagine, different answers to this question come from different "authorities." Obviously, creationists and evolutionists disagree, but major schools of thought vie among evolutionists.