- Ancient Mayans at the height of fashion bejeweled their teeth by chipping out small pieces of enamel and using glue to embed gemstones in the holes.
- Dolphins’ teeth grow in rings as they age, like trees!
- Neolithic humans used beeswax to fill cavities, as evidenced by a recently discovered 6500-year-old mandible found in Slovenia.
- In 1994, an inmate escaped from a West Virginia prison by making a rope out of braided dental floss and scaling the wall of the complex.
- The first commercially manufactured toothbrush came out in 1938, but Chinese artisans produced toothbrushes with animal hair bristles as early as 1498.
- The deep-sea predator Dragonfish not only has a jaw full of fearsome fangs, but also grows several long, sharp teeth in the center of its tongue!
- In the iconic painting “American Gothic” by Grant Wood, the male farmer is actually the artist’s dentist.
- 100 years ago, half of North American adults were toothless. Today, fewer than 10% of adults have lost any of their permanent teeth
- Ancient hunter-gatherers had great teeth – cavities and gum disease started to appear when humans settled down and started practicing agriculture, largely because of changes in diet.
- Toothpaste has come a long way – before modern minty versions, people used ash, charcoal, tobacco, and other abrasives to clean teeth, sometimes sweetened with honey. Urine was even used as a whitening mouthwash by some cultures.!
- You may have heard that horses’ teeth never stop growing, but neither do the teeth of rats, beavers, and aardvarks. All of these animals keep them ground down through chewing.
- Ancient Egyptians created high-quality dental reconstructions out of resin, malachite, gold wire, and donor teeth
- In colonial America, blacksmiths commonly acted as the town dentist. Yikes!
If you’d like to receive updates from My Family Dentistry, information and tips about dental care, promotions, and more, subscribe to our email newsletter.
We’d love to hear from you! Keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.