How did teeth evolve? - Peter S. Ungar
- 729,577 Views
- 6,525 Questions Answered
- TEDEd Animation
Let’s Begin…
You may take them for granted, but your teeth are a marvel. They break up all your food over the course of your life, while being strong enough to withstand breakage themselves. How do they do it? Peter S. Ungar traces the evolution of mammalian molars from primitive cone-like structures to the myriad forms of today’s species, from lions to cows to people.
Create and share a new lesson based on this one.
Additional Resources for you to Explore
Our teeth are amazing structures. They have to break food without breaking themselves--and they chew up to millions of times over the course of our lifetimes. They are also built from the raw materials that come from those very foods. We can think of chewing as a perpetual death match in the mouth, with plants and animals developing tough or hard tissues for protection, while teeth evolve ways to sharpen or strengthen themselves to overcome those defenses.
That said, who among us has perfect teeth? Many of us have dental issues, like cavities, periodontal disease, impacted wisdom teeth, and other orthodontic problems. Other mammals tend not to have these same issues. What makes us so different? Part of the answer seems to lay in the fact that our ancestors did not evolve to eat the kinds of foods we feed our kids today. The educator of this lesson, Peter Ungar, wrote an article for the online magazine Aeon that discusses this idea further.
That said, who among us has perfect teeth? Many of us have dental issues, like cavities, periodontal disease, impacted wisdom teeth, and other orthodontic problems. Other mammals tend not to have these same issues. What makes us so different? Part of the answer seems to lay in the fact that our ancestors did not evolve to eat the kinds of foods we feed our kids today. The educator of this lesson, Peter Ungar, wrote an article for the online magazine Aeon that discusses this idea further.
TED-Ed
Lesson Creator
New York, NY
Create and share a new lesson based on this one.
More from Getting Under Our Skin
54,406 Views
457,556 Views
254,806 Views
9,666,089 Views