About 100 years ago, half of North American adults were actually missing all of their teeth. Thankfully, due to advancements in dental care and better general dental hygiene, these days less than ten percent of adults are missing teeth. Teeth are pretty important for our self esteem and ability to eat, but they’re much more interesting than you probably think. Here are three super weird facts about teeth and dental care that you probably didn’t know.
Fetuses have teeth
One of the reasons that Richard III got such a bad rap was that he was reportedly born with a mouthful of teeth. Creepy, right? It’s actually completely normal for babies to have teeth. Though typically they aren’t born with a gleaming full set (and little Richard probably wasn’t either), primary teeth start forming in fetuses as soon as six weeks after they are conceived.
The first toothbrush was designed in a jail
We’ve never had to live in a world where toothbrushes didn’t exist, but before 1780, what we know as a toothbrush hadn’t been invented. You might think that toothbrushes were invented by a dentist or doctor in a lab, but the first mass produced toothbrush was designed by an English prisoner while serving time in jail. He drilled holes in a cattle bone, gathered boar bristles, placed the bristles through the holes, and glued them in position.
Fear of the dentist is a real thing
Almost all dental clinics incite some level of fear or discomfort but fear of the dentist is one of the most common fears that people have. Getting procedures like cosmetic dental work can be pretty unnerving. Fear of the dentist — referred to as Odontophobia — is actually now listed as a phobia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV).
We’ve come a long way from boar bristle toothbrushes. Now that we have better dental care and things like cosmetic dental implants and teeth whitening, our smiles are more complete and attractive than ever (though probably not straight out of the womb). Continue reading here.