Dental Facts and Trivia for the Curious Patient

Have you recently visited your Chandler dentist for a consultation or a procedure and suddenly realize there is so much about the world you still don’t know? There are countless dental trivia that most people probably don’t know but would find interesting to learn. Here’s a few below.

Did you know?

  Humans

• In Japan, students of dentistry practice on robots.
• Kids back in the prehistoric times do not suffer from cavities because they did not eat sugar.
• There is one in every 2,000 babies who gets born with a tooth.
• Aside from fingerprints, a person also has a unique tongue print.
• Even an individual’s set of teeth are unique as well. Even identical twins have different dental patterns.
• You only need 17 muscles to smile but 43 to frown.
• People do not chew up and down. Instead, we chew side to side just like cows!
• Some people get stuck with their baby teeth, especially if they have no permanent teeth to replace them.
• Some cultures consider crookedness in teeth more attractive than straight ones, especially in Japan, where a number of women get crooked veneers to mimic crookedness or “yaeba” look.
• There are over 35 million Americans who do not have any teeth at all, while around 178 million individuals in the US who have at least one tooth missing.
• Oral cancer takes the lives of one unfortunate American every hour daily, according to the National Cancer Institute.
• A single crown is the most common procedure in restorative dentistry, where more or less 2.3 million implant-supported crowns are produced each year.
• Thumb-sucking among babies is normal, but if it extends over the age of three or done repeatedly over long periods, the habit could cause teeth position and jaw alignment problems.

Miscellaneous

• The United States buys around a whopping three million miles of dental floss annually, so make sure you take advantage!
• The mouth of the Statue of Liberty spans three feet wide.
• The first electric toothbrush was invented in 1954 and named the Broxodent Brush.

Animals

• Cats have around 30 teeth, while dogs have 42.
• A single tooth of an elephant can weigh up to a whopping six pounds!
• An ape’s teeth is shaped very similarly to a human teeth.