--- title: Five Best Ideas: Wisdom Teeth Are Fueling the Opioid Crisis description: How wisdom teeth are fueling the opioid epidemic, this quick blood test could diagnose a concussion and more. canonical: https://time.com/4637480/how-wisdom-teeth-are-fueling-the-opioid-epidemic/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-18T17:00:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:10.419Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How Wisdom Teeth Are Fueling the Opioid Crisis og:description: And four more of today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/4637480/how-wisdom-teeth-are-fueling-the-opioid-epidemic/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Wisdom Teeth Are Fueling the Opioid Crisis twitter:description: And four more of today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # How Wisdom Teeth Are Fueling the Opioid Epidemic by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jan 18, 2017 5:00 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jan 18, 2017 5:00 PM UTC **1\.** [**How wisdom teeth are fueling the opioid epidemic.**](http://www.ozy.com/acumen/how-wisdom-teeth-are-fueling-the-opioid-epidemic/74798) By Melissa Pandika in _Ozy_ **2\.** [**This quick blood test could diagnose a concussion—and help athletes know when it’s safe to compete again.**](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/blood-test-could-predict-recovery-time-after-concussions) By Meredith Wadman in _Science_ **3\.** [**Could you eat your way out of a mild depression?**](http://www.newstatesman.com/2017/01/how-eat-yourself-happy) By Rachel Kelly in the _New Statesman_ **4\.** [**What if we could store summer’s heat and use it in the winter?**](https://www.empa.ch/web/s604/naoh-heat-storage) By Rainer Klose at _EMPA_ **5\.** [**This public-private collaborative worker training approach could save American jobs.**](https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/01/how-to-train-a-worker/512870/) By Derek Thompson in _The_ _Atlantic_  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ Five Best Ideas: Wisdom Teeth Are Fueling the Opioid Crisis ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4637480/how-wisdom-teeth-are-fueling-the-opioid-epidemic/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4637480/how-wisdom-teeth-are-fueling-the-opioid-epidemic/"},"headline":"How Wisdom Teeth Are Fueling the Opioid Epidemic","datePublished":"2017-01-18T17:00:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:10.419Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4637480/how-wisdom-teeth-are-fueling-the-opioid-epidemic/","keywords":["Innovation","Depression","Jobs","concussions","energy","opioid epidemic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4637480/how-wisdom-teeth-are-fueling-the-opioid-epidemic/","name":"How Wisdom Teeth Are Fueling the Opioid Epidemic"}}]}] ```