So, we always talk about how dental care is important and what you should do in certain conditions. But this time, in this article, we wanted to give you fun facts about teeth. You will find interesting and educative facts about your teeth, the history of toothbrushes, and animal teeth.
In the end, we put some more fun facts about teeth for bookworms or people who want to read longer texts. We enjoyed a lot writing them, and hope you enjoy reading them too.
Did you know these facts about teeth?
The firsts:
- The first animal with teeth could be a fish that lived 400 million years ago scientist says.
- The first dental treatment is considered to be tooth extraction dating back to 8000 BC in Pakistan.
- The first dental work can be traced back to 7000 BC.
- The first toothpaste was made around 5000 BC by Egyptians. They used a mixture of ox hooves ashes, some kind of resin, burnt eggshells, and pumice.
- The first dentist in the world was an Egyptian who lived in 2600 BC.
- The first cotton candy machine was invented by a dentist.
- The first toothbrush concept was made in 3000 BC.
- The first modern toothbrush was built in a prison with bones and bristles of animal leftovers.
- The first modern braces were invented in 1819.
Short Facts:
- A healthy tooth can wield 5600 pounds of pressure per square inch.
- With an average life expectancy of 72, a person spends 69 days brushing their teeth. If we exclude the first three years it means you would be brushing your teeth for 69 days in 69 years.
- Tooth enamel, the white-yellow outer part covering your teeth, is the hardest substance in the human body. It is made up of 89% calcium and has no living cells in it.
- The color of your teeth doesn’t have to be a sign of your oral health. Your white teeth might be unhealthy and for the yellow vice versa.
- For an adult person, calcium accounts for 1-2% of total body weight, and 99% of that calcium is found in your bones and teeth.
- Even if your teeth are the strongest material in your body, you can harm your teeth by brushing them hard. Do not brush your teeth like this:
- Sudden temperature differences create stress on the outer and inner parts of teeth since they have different density levels. It might lead to minor crackings, so go easy on them, they have feelings too.
- Back in history people used animal teeth as false teeth. Furthermore, when dentistry evolved, the people in higher societies used real human teeth from low-level people to make false teeth. It was just for aesthetic purposes, they could not even use them functionally.
- The sharpest teeth on earth belonged to an ancient eel-like vertebrate that lived some 400 million years ago named Conodont or Conodonta. They had no jaw though, the tip of the tooth was 2 micrometers, 20 times thinner than human air.
- Rabbits never stop growing teeth. That is why they constantly need to chew on things.
- With its strong jaw muscles, a Nile crocodile deadly bite applies 5,000 PSI force, the strongest in all animals. A human bite applies only 120-160 PSI force in comparison.
- A kind of ground shark, carcharhiniformes, shed 35,000 teeth in a lifetime.
Fun facts about teeth for those who like to read more
Now, we gave you some short and fast fun facts about teeth. But maybe you found them so good, you want more. So let us give you a few more fun facts about teeth if you want to read more or you’re bored and want to kill more time.
Let’s start.
Freddy Mercury Teeth
The famous singer of the Queens, Freddy Mercury, had teeth that looks protruding. It was because of his extra 4 teeth behind his incisors. He had been through hard times while he was a kid, and children were teasing him. Even his group did not like the way he looks when they first met. But he believed his teeth were the source of his talent and claimed he could sing better with his extra teeth. That’s why he never got his teeth fixed. Interestingly, opposite to what he believed, the source of his talent was his ability to use his false vocal cords. After he died, to honor his remarkable life and songs, his unique teeth shape was named after him Freddy Mercury Teeth.
Self-cleaning teeth
It might sound crazy but at the University of Pennsylvania, they are trying to make self-brushing of teeth. The study is still in the prototype stage, but they think they can create microscopic dental care devices that don’t require any human interaction. These robots can be programmed to clean your mouth and then floss it for you, with their shape-changing ability. And it is not just that, these robots release an antibacterial substance that keeps your teeth away from bacteria. They successfully performed tests on artificial teeth, but no human trials have been conducted yet.
Solving crimes with teeth
In forensic odontology, the application of dental investigations, they use teeth marks to discover the truth behind the crimes. They also use tooth prints to identify a person, generally preferred when fingerprints are damaged or not available. Other than that, bite marks can be used to identify a suspect. There are several cases in history while solving a crime people relied on bitemarks.
What’s the past and future of wisdom teeth?
Wisdom teeth history dates back to our early ancestors who needed large molar teeth to chew roots, leaves, nuts, and meat. Their need for chewing harder foods also allowed them to have more space in their mouth for extra 4 teeth. We call them wisdom teeth. In today’s world, since we no longer need to chew as much as our ancestors, thanks to forks, knives, cooking, and food variability, we have less space in our mouths. As a result of having less space in our mouth, the four extra teeth come with problems and pop up in the wrong positions. But recent studies show that wisdom teeth have started to disappear since we no longer need them and we are still evolving. Maybe our children will have no wisdom teeth at all.
Which animal had the first teeth?
The first animal with teeth should be a fish living in the sea. We know that sharks have covering shells all around their body called dermal denticles. They help sharks swim faster by reducing drag and turbulence.
Interestingly these shells are pretty similar to the tooth structure and are even produced in the same way, through crest cells. It does not seem like a coincidence to scientists. It is believed that during the evolution of first jawed animals, the dermal denticles of primitive fish, their skin, moved into their mouth, and the first teeth were formed. From these fish mouths to enormously huge dinosaurs’ teeth, now they are in your mouth.
References:
– Jheon AH, Seidel K, Biehs B, Klein OD. From molecules to mastication: the development and evolution of teeth. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Dev Biol. 2013;2(2):165-182. doi:10.1002/wdev.63 link