What were wisdom teeth originally used for?

Anthropologists believe wisdom teeth, or the third set of molars, were the evolutionary answer to our ancestor's early diet of coarse, rough food - like leaves, roots, nuts and meats - which required more chewing power and resulted in excessive wear of the teeth. The modern diet with its softer foods, along with marvels of modern technologies such as forks, spoons and knives, has made the need for wisdom teeth nonexistent. As a result, evolutionary biologists now classify wisdom teeth as vestigial organs, or body parts that have become functionless due to evolution.