Everyone knows why animals need teeth. Large and strong teeth are the key to a successful hunt for predators, a way to get food for elephants, and for some animals it is also an ornament to attract females. Large units in humans - macrodentia - a rare phenomenon. We will talk about the largest teeth in animals and people in this article.
Amazing narwhal tooth
There are many amazing teeth in the animal kingdom. But we will only talk about the largest tooth among modern representatives of the fauna.
The first place in terms of the size of the teeth, or rather, just one tooth, is occupied by the marine mammal of the cetacean family narwhal. This inhabitant of the northern waters of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans is proudly called the sea unicorn. These whales reach impressive sizes - up to 4 meters in length, and the male weighs up to 1.5 tons.
Interestingly, they only have two teeth. At the same time, the left one develops in them into a spirally twisted tusk up to 3 meters long and weighing 10 kilograms, and the right one is underdeveloped. The purpose of this massive device still causes a lot of confusion among zoologists.questions. This is not a weapon of defense or attack, it does not serve to break through ice. It is assumed that this is a sensitive organ of the narwhal - after all, it is penetrated by many tubes, inside of which there are nerve endings.
Pacu teeth
This freshwater fish, which lives in the tributaries of the Amazon, is definitely not related to humans. But her teeth are surprisingly similar to ours.
Interestingly, pacu is a close relative of the predatory piranha, whose teeth resemble sharp razors. And although the pacu is not so aggressive and feeds mainly on plant foods, but in the Scottish park "Edinburgh World of Butterflies and Insects" in the pavilion "Sea Depths" she bit off the finger of a zoologist.
The evolution of our teeth
The teeth of our ancestors, who lived 100 thousand years ago, were twice as large as the average teeth of a modern person. This was due to biological necessity - rough plant foods and raw meat required just such a chewing apparatus.
Over time, human teeth have decreased, according to anthropologists, by 1% every thousand years. In addition, they not only became smaller, but also changed their purpose. Our largest tooth is the first molar in the upper jaw. The fangs have lost the function of holding food and have also decreased. But the third molars (wisdom teeth) generally do not grow in all people.
Big human teeth - normal or abnormal?
Tooth size is genetically determined in most cases. If the child inheritselongated and large crowns of one parent and the small size of the jaw of the other, then its units may seem disproportionate. Moreover, if large teeth do not lead to displacement, torsion, growth retardation of other units, speech defects or other problems, this is not a pathology. In addition, tall people tend to have larger teeth. Large molars are more common in children because enamel tends to wear off with age.
The condition when abnormally large units appear in a person is called macrodentia in dentistry. This pathology is hereditary and develops when two tooth follicles grow together.
When it can be a problem
If large teeth do not have enough space for growth, then they twist, go beyond the boundaries of the dentition. This leads to the formation of a malocclusion, which is no longer as harmless as an unaesthetic smile. Malocclusion leads to disturbances in the digestive system.
Sometimes teeth can become enlarged due to gum disease - a serious pathology that leads to the development of cervical caries and loss of teeth.
Big teeth can cause speech defects, and if psychological problems are added to this, then a person becomes uncommunicative, withdrawn, constrained. And this is a direct path to depressive states.
Big or not?
How to tell if your teeth are big? Dentists have developed relative standards for the teeth of the average European. The central upper incisors are normally 9-13mm, and the lateral incisors are 2 mm shorter. The ratio of the width to the height of the tooth is normal - 1.25%.
A person is diagnosed with macrodentia if the size of dental crowns exceeds the norm by 1.5 times. At the same time, large milk teeth in a child are an occasion to go to the dentist and check the follicles of the teeth for their fusion.
Correction methods
Modern dentistry offers several ways to solve the problem of large teeth. What to do and whether there is a need for it, the patient will be told only by a professional doctor - a dentist or an orthodontist. The following techniques will help correct the size of the teeth:
- Grinding with a special machine can grind the enamel and give the teeth the optimal size and shape.
- If necessary, teeth can be corrected with a modern composite restoration.
- If it is not possible to grind teeth, you can build up adjacent ones using ceramic onlays (veneers, lumineers).
- In some cases, large teeth are just the consequences of a malocclusion. This is corrected with braces.
- In extreme cases, you can resort to removing the tooth and replacing it with an implant of the right size.
Sometimes it's beautiful
Large and he althy teeth give a person a more youthful appearance. Aesthetic features often become a calling card and a sign of individuality.
Hilary Swank (pictured), Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway would become so popular if their smile was "like everyone else" - because it is she who gives them thatpiquancy and charm, for which they are so loved by fans.
So before you make yourself a standard smile, think - maybe your imperfect teeth are the highlight of your appearance and make you different from the rest.
In pursuit of the unusual
But some people want to stand out so much that they go to extreme lengths. Popular in the last decade, fangs, like those of vampires, have become part of a certain subculture.
One of the cosmetic procedures for rejuvenation, for example, involves building molars. This changes the bite, elongates the face, and results in a visible reduction in the nasolabial folds and facial contouring.
But the Chinese boy Wang Pengfei did not bring such fangs of a vampire to joy. In 2012, his fangs grew, and growth slowed down. The boy became withdrawn and aggressive with peers whispering behind his back.
The longest canine tooth, 36.7 mm, was removed from an 18-year-old Indian in 2017. It turned out to be 4.7 mm longer than what had already been entered in the Guinness Book of Records. For comparison: the average size of a human canine is 20 mm.
Amazing teeth
Teeth can be not only big, but there can be a lot of them, or they may not be where they should be at all.
Thus, 17-year-old Ashik Gawai (India), who suffered from a rare pathology - odontoma, got into the Guinness Book of Records. These are benign formations of 232 teeth. All extra teeth were removed because they could lead to problems with swallowing,digestion and swelling of the face.
But in the state of Maryland (USA) a 4-month-old baby was found to have a tooth in the brain. The strange arrangement was caused by the pathology of embryonic development and led to the formation of a tumor. It has been removed and the baby is doing well.
Stephen Hirst (Great Britain) had a tooth growing at the age of 47, and not in his mouth, but in his ear. And today it remains a medical mystery how the tooth follicle ended up in such a place and what stimulated its growth.
Everyone knows that babies are born without teeth. But here is another record holder from the Guinness Book of Records - Martha Matoni from Kenya. In 2010, she gave birth to a son with a full set of milk teeth - all 28 teeth were already present in the boy's mouth.
