As I was driving home from the gym this afternoon, something occurred to me, which I did not feel like researching: why do we have baby teeth that fall out to give way to adult teeth? Is there any evolutionary advantage to not getting a good set of teeth to start out with? How could this have evolved? Are there any other species that experience this phenomenon, or are we unique in this respect?If you know the answer to any of these questions, or want to speculate about them, feel free to comment. I'd be curious to see what people have to say.
well, considering that babies are much smaller than adults, I would guess that your baby teeth wouldn't fit you as an adult
ReplyDeleteI've heard of 90-some-odd-year-old monks growing in their 3rd set of teeth who attribute their chompers to daily chanting. And sharks are good at it too (not the chanting). Beavers and woodchucks deserve mention also... bUt, we are the only species with tooth-fairies. so we pass the special test, even if sharks and beavers can grow them back better than us. if you don't think fairies are evolutionary, then just remember how profitable toothloss can be for kids with generous parents, given they don't spend it all on candy... *cough* *cough* (hmm i wonder how multicultural tooth-fairies are anyway-- like, does she do Arabs?)
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