Study Finds Human Teeth are as Tough as Shark Teeth

sciencehabit writes "Don't feel inadequate. Even though your teeth are largely composed of a mineral softer than that found in sharks, new tests suggest that they're just as tough. In sharks, the material coating the teeth is largely composed of fluoroapatite, a fluoridated phosphate mineral that in its pure form is harder than the hydroxyapatite found in the enamel of human teeth. But by pressing tiny metallic pyramids into the surfaces of teeth from a shortfin mako shark and a tiger shark, researchers found that the enameloid coating on shark teeth is no harder than that of the enamel on a human wisdom tooth. The teeth are, in fact, of comparable hardness because their surfaces aren't pure mineral but instead are made of mineral crystals bound together with proteins so that the material doesn't shatter under a sudden impact."

Great, but....

[Clueless Moron]

Terrific, but sharks replace their teeth an unlimited number of times during their lifetime. So they get nice new fresh sharp ones all the time. I'm stuck with my adult teeth for my whole life.

Re:Wisdom Teeth? Really?

[Grishnakh]

I'm guessing they tested on wisdom teeth precisely because lots of people get them removed, so there's probably tons of them available for doing random tests on. Are you volunteering to have your incisors removed so they can do some tests on those instead?