The Whole Tooth: Fun Dental Trivia

Ever wondered what the Tooth Fairy does with all the teeth she collects? See the answers from the K-1 students at Normandy Park School in New Jersey.Until we get down to the truth about the Tooth Fairy & her fetish for teeth, here are some interesting facts to chew on about teeth and dental care.

• Sharks have unlimited number of teeth. If a tooth falls out, a tooth from another layer takes its place.

• The average man produces 25,000 quarts of saliva in a lifetime. That's enough saliva to fill two swimming pools.

In 1873, Colgate introduced toothpaste in jars.

• If you don’t floss, you miss cleaning 35% of your tooth surfaces.

• It was the French dentist Pierre Fauchard, credited father of modern dentistry, who recommended using one’s own urine in the treatment of early stages of dental caries.

• Prehistoric fishes called conodonts had no other skeleton than the teeth (the sharpest that have ever been recorded) in their mouths. Their teeth came together like scissors to slice up food.

• A mosquito has 47 teeth used as piercing tools and not to bite or chew anything as human teeth do. 

• More than 90% of systemic diseases have oral manifestations.

• Early toothpaste ingredients included powdered fruit, burnt or ground shells, talc, honey and dried flowers. Less agreeable ingredients included mice, rabbit heads and lizard livers. 

• Horace Wells was the first dentist to use nitrous oxide "laughing gas" as an anesthetic for dental work in 1844.  

• It wasn't until 1774 that two Frenchmen, a pharmacist and a dentist, designed the first set of porcelain teeth.

• The ‘Yaeba’ Look - crowded, crooked-toothed smile with accentuated canine teeth, is a trend among Japanese women. 

• Wood is not a promising material for false teeth. The corrosive effects of saliva would turn them into mushy pulp.

• William Morrison invented the machine that makes cotton candy in 1897 and unveiled at the World's Fair in 1904 in St. Louis. He was called "Fairy Floss”.

• The Statue of Liberty's mouth is 3 feet wide.

• A sneeze zooms out of your mouth at over 600 mph!

• Children begin to develop their primary teeth 6 weeks after conception while in their mother’s womb.

• In the middle ages, people believed that dogs teeth boiled in wine made an exceptional mouth rinse for cavity prevention.

Japan’s Yaeba (meaning 'double tooth') look is an attempt at making a smile more child-like.

• The first nylon bristled toothbrush with a plastic handle was invented in 1938. Natural bristles were the only source of bristles until Du Pont invented nylon.

• Egyptians used a form of toothpaste over 5000 years ago using a concoction of powdered ashes of hooves of oxen, myrrh, powdered and burned egg shells and pumice.

• According to "Consumer's Report", Dentists are among the 5 most trusted professionals in the U.S. 

• Adults have 32 teeth, children have 20. Depending on their age, kids may have fewer because they lose baby teeth as adult teeth grow.

See original article from Dr. Michael's Dental Clinic here.