Your Teeth Tells a Story

//Tooth Identity//

Teeth are made of various tissues that eventually erode away from use and exposure to other substances. It’s unavoidable as a person must consume food throughout their life. Taking care of our teeth is an important step to achieving oral hygiene, mainly formed from calcium, teeth will not grow back after the permanent teeth have been set into place. Teeth have been known to be another form of footprint of the human body that has allowed scientists to devise a method of identifying bodies from their teeth. Calcium is resilient to heat for instance, bodies that have tragically been lost in a fir will leave teeth as remains, forensics are then able to analyse teeth and use various methods to link teeth to people. Dental record matching or DNA sample extraction from pulp are the main forms of dental identification.

//Tooth Story//

Aside from identification, teeth can tell much more about a person. It’s a fascinating record of a person’s life that reaches beyond just what was eaten for lunch. Teeth change in different ways depending on events and lifestyle. They can reveal physiological changes such as menopause, scientists looked at cementum to identify stressors and created profiles based on their observations. Stress relating to significant life events were identified including imprisonment. It’s fascinating that a record of our lives can be extracted from our teeth. There isn’t an exact profile that identifies all events with some overlap, scientists are still able to form an educated hypothesis about a person’s life simply based on teeth.

//Future Tooth Science?//

It makes me think a little deeper about whether one day technology will be used to monitor cementum or other teeth tissue to gauge stress levels. Teeth have been a great area of research for scientists and I was particularly interested stem cell research that aimed to develop a way to grow new teeth. Once permanent teeth are damaged or removed, they do not grow back. Perhaps with more understanding of the body and research in other areas, scientists will once again discover a way to trigger and support teeth growth. Enamel repair has already made progress over the last few years and bio science is moving fast towards conscious manipulation of body responses. Perhaps in the distant future a new set of teeth won’t cost a pretty penny and be stronger than ever.

Sources

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/aug/30/scientists-grow-tooth-enamel
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/mar/25/teeth-can-reveal-past-stresses-such-as-menopause-and-imprisonment
https://science.howstuffworks.com/forensic-dentistry2.htm