Why do dentists give differing views on whether I need to extract my wisdom teeth, and does it mean that one of them is wrong?

Singapore does not have national guidelines that dentists must follow when making a decision to remove wisdom teeth.

Dentists make clinical recommendations based on their judgment, which is affected by:

1. Experience
2. Recent (the last 6-10) cases that they have encountered
3. Previous adverse outcomes: they may have seen a patient with a severe infection or decay caused by a wisdom tooth that should have been removed earlier to prevent these issues.
4. Training: different dental schools have different philosophies when it comes to indications for removing wisdom teeth.
5. Personal treatment philosophy. This is formed by training, experience and bolstered or demolished by encountering adverse outcomes and the most recent cases the dentist has encountered. Humans base decisions on short term memory and emotions. And dentists are most certainly human!

Should you prefer more evidence-based guidelines, these are some of the national guidelines used in other countries that you can refer to.