I got my wisdom teeth out last year. I'm a vegetarian, and when my Orthodontist learned that, he asked whether I wanted the synthetic or cat gut. I opted for the synthetic. One thing you should know is that they take much longer to dissolve. A few of mine didn't, and I had to go back twice - at the 1st follow-up, he wanted to give the incisions a bit more time to heal and the sutures to dissolve - and have some snipped and pulled out because they weren't dissolving quickly enough on their own. Pain in the mouth, and healing did take longer because of it, but I'd still make the same decision.