Bet you didn’t know some of these!
Teeth might not seem too interesting, but there’s more to them than you may think! There are some pretty wacky facts out there about teeth. Here are 10 of our favorites!
Tooth Tattoos
How awesome is that? You can now get a picture or words tattooed onto your tooth in the dentist office. Some of these tattoos even help fight bacteria!
Norwegian tooth bank?
The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) in Norway is collecting children’s baby teeth for scientific study. They are using these teeth to check for pollutants in the child’s body and using the results to figure out how environmental pollutants affect mothers and their children.
Cloning John Lennon
Canadian dentist Michael Zuk is the proud owner of one of John Lennon’s molars. Lennon gave his molar to his housekeeper as a souvenir for her daughter. Zuk bought it in 2011 for $30,000 and is working with scientists to clone the rock and roll legend. He plans to have Lennon cloned by 2040.
The boy with 232 teeth
17-year-old Ashik Gavai thought he had mouth cancer. When the surgeons opened up his swollen jaw, they were shocked to find hundreds of little teeth! The condition is called Odontoma, and Ashik had it bad. 232 teeth later, he now holds a Guinness world record for most teeth removed!
Toothy nosebleed?
An unnamed 22-year-old man was constantly having nosebleeds. When he went to his doctor to check it out, they found a tooth growing into his nose! There was even a 13-year-old boy in 1978 named Doug Pritchard who discovered a tooth growing in his foot! Between 0.15% and 3.9% of people in the world have spare teeth, and they don’t just grow in your head.
Toilet Toothbrush
Did you know that your toothbrush is probably dirtier than your toilet bowl? When you flush the toilet, waste particles are blasted into the air and can land on your toothbrush. So gross! Try putting the lid down before flushing and disinfect your brush with hydrogen peroxide regularly.
Love Your Teeth Day
Ok, so there are lots of wacky holidays out there, but we really like this one! In China, September 20th is national Love Your Teeth Day and helps get people excited to visit their dentist. We think we should start this in the U.S., what do you think?
Mountain Dew Mouth
Sorry Dew lovers, but you might want to think before you drink that sugary beverage again. In the Appalachian region many people are of low-income and Mountain Dew has become the unofficial drink of choice. So much so that it is common for this community to have severely rotten teeth, coined Mountain Dew Mouth.
Beeswax Fillings
The Neolithic humans used beeswax to fill their cavities. This was discovered from a 6500-year-old mandible found in Slovenia. It’s natural right?!
Ashy Toothpaste
Before minty fresh breath, we had ash breath! Some of the first toothpaste was made from ash, charcoal, or tobacco. Urine was even used as a teeth-whitening mouthwash… Thank goodness we have Crest and Colgate right?