Seems pretty dumb in our biological design to not be able to regenerate such a functional (and also easily breakable) part of our body.
The diet that we evolved to consume (fruits, lean meats and fibrous plants) was much less damaging to our teeth than the current high-sugar, high-fat, highly processed foods. And human lifespans was shorter, so less time for teeth to damage. So there wasn’t a strong evolutionary need to regenerate them (unlike an animal like sharks)
You should call customer service and complain
I’ve been on hold for decades.
Did you ask to speak to the manager? That usually works.
Will do sir, will do.
Your baby teeth and adult teeth all began developing before you were even born. Our DNA still contains all the genes that sharks use to grow their endless conveyor belt of replacement teeth, but in humans these genes are deactivated by the 20th week of foetal development.
The advantages of keeping the same teeth through adulthood is that they can be securely anchored in the jawbone, which allows us to chew tough plants and grains.
https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/why-cant-we-regrow-teeth
though a drug is being developed that could allow us to regenerate teeth
though a drug is being developed that could allow us to regenerate teeth
I think the last time I was this excited about medical science was the COVID vaccine. How I would love to replace my root canal crowns with real teeth!
You’re saying we could reactivate the gene and get infinite teeth?? 🫨
Possible, but it may come with downsides you don’t like.
Side effects may include dry mouth, diarrhea, attacking swimmers at the beach. Do not take Teethenall if you are allergic to shellfish.
Subscription based teeth?
worse, you have to pay to stop them from growing
Imagine teeth grew like our nails and had to be clipped regularly
I hate that, please stop
Stop
Vagina teeth? That’s my fetish.
Let me guess, the downside is infinite teeth.
The downside could be something that nobody has imagined yet. That is the problem with change. I’m not against this, but I demand reasonable study. (but not unreasonable levels - vaccines and GMO have been studied enough to conclude they are generally safe despite people yelling more study needed)
Isn’t this the Street Sharks origin story?
Are those the snapping guys in West Side Story?
Nah, these guys
Teething 3.0.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think that’s how the drugs in development work. They cause the existing teeth to produce more enamel or something.
The latest work I’ve seen reactivates the genes to start growing any existing teeth that had stopped. It’s for early development problems in children, not for adults. But of course the media seized on the “regrow teeth” part and ran with it. Unless there’s a way to implant new teeth seeds and then get them going, adults are still out of luck.
The trial, which will take place at Kyoto University Hospital from September to August 2025, will treat 30 males aged 30-64 who are missing at least one molar.
you are wrong. all their tests are on subjects missing teeth, not with reduced enamel. this is literally growing replacement teeth.
I stand corrected. Thanks!
I was thinking of this:
https://dental.washington.edu/trials-begin-on-lozenge-that-rebuilds-tooth-enamel/
But your link is far more exciting.
Hopefully that’s what it ends up being, as the idea of growing new teeth has been around in science and media for a long time.
Teeth cannot produce enamel. Enamel is not a living tissue and it was produced by cells outside of the tooth in a coral-like manner. In order to grow a new tooth, you need it to be fully surrounded by specialized living tissue for the whole growth cycle.
PS: I honestly expected something like this to come out of bioelectric computation research, but progress seems slower there. Or rather knowledge and techniques in other fields is reaching critical mass, giving us these advances.
Maybe “produce” isn’t the right word, but I was thinking of these lozenges that made headlines a few years ago.
There are no stupid questions. But there are grammatically flawed questions.
English dos do be done daft. https://inv.us.projectsegfau.lt/watch?v=6lhxxiqqlQY&t=293
I tried to rephrase his question in my head, and I ended up with “Why do not teeth degenerate.”
I need sleep.
Title gore
You’re right, this design isn’t intelligent at all!
Wait until y’all learn about the birth canal and our skulls that fold.
Because our design is not particularly intelligent …
As compared to?
“Intelligent design” is the term Young-Earth Creationists use when they want to sound smart while questioning evolution as powered by natural selection.
Source: My childhood and teen years.
I think there just hasn’t been an evolutionary need for them to regrow. In past millenia, people had kids and died before toothlessness really became an issue and teeth lasted longer before our modern industrial diet.
Because when it comes to survival until procreation, you don’t need more than two sets.
Sharks laughin’ at us talkin’ apes.
Just a note, biology doesn’t have a design. If you’re looking for some kind of logic or plan, you’ll be disappointed.
Things are the way they are because a long time ago, it helped something survive and procreate. That’s it, survive and procreate. Every other consideration is secondary.
We can theorize about why two sets of teeth were advantageous at some point, but that doesn’t provide an answer to “why?”
But if you knew the environment, and therefore what evolution would select for, you could essentially “design” biology right?
Sure. Dwarf Wheat is a great example of humans creating a plant to survive in specific environmental conditions with massive benefits. Or we could look at introduced species, like the cane toad, which are too good at surviving their new environments.
We don’t (yet) have the biological capability to “design” an entire species from the ground up, but if we did, I’m certain our first attempt would be a collosal failure that could potentially wipe out humanity. But that’s just based on how good we are at ignoring warning signs.
You said exactly why in your post: “…our biological design…”
There’s no such thing. We evolved. That means we’re a mix of traits passed along over time by individuals that managed to live long enough to breed.
That’s it. That’s the whole explanation for any question about “why don’t humans do x thing as part of our biology?”
Any given trait is all about lasting long enough to make babies. Once that occurs, all that’s left is a general proclivity to ensuring the babies survive long enough to do the same. Regrowing teeth isn’t part of that. It’s a niche trait that isn’t as useful as you’d think for humans. We don’t need to gnaw at things, we don’t need to crack bones with our mouths, nothing that would make a third set of teeth an advantage, or different teeth an advantage.
Teeth are not easily breakable. We actually can crack bone with our jaws and the teeth will usually survive if the bone isn’t too thick; we just have better tools for that because way back when, the proto-humans that used tools had more babies that survived to make more babies. You have to abuse and/or neglect your teeth to break them for the vast majority. There are congenital issues where that isn’t the case, but we’ve also bred ourselves into a social species that takes care of each other, so we aren’t limited to a harsh, primitive survival level of things.
I really don’t get why people think of teeth as fragile. They’re incredibly durable for what we need them for, and require only minimal care to last well beyond breeding age. Even if you factor in modern diets being bad for teeth, regular care for them (brushing and flossing) can stave off those effects for decades. Go search up some of the dental research on old human bodies from archaeological sites. People survived very well with just one set of adult teeth.
And, some humans do have extras that can come in later in life, though it’s very rare and comes with drawbacks (according to the last lady I dated that was an anthropologist anyway). Supposedly, having the extras actually weakens the regular adult teeth and makes them more prone to damage. There’s always a tradeoff in things like this.
People like me have only one problem with what you just said, and it’s called “Bruxism”.
Well, if you make it to breeding age, and successfully do so, then it really doesn’t matter from a species perspective. If you don’t, then whatever traits led to the grinding are weeded out, so that’s also irrelevant to the species in a different way. Also, there are treatments to help with bruxism. It isn’t something that can’t at least be managed to reduce the speed of damage.
Not really? Bruxism is heavily linked with stress and anxiety, which we have too much of in our contemporary society (meaning: a drop of water in our whole evolutionary history), and it’s very rarely going to incapacitate anyone, so evolution doesn’t care, and has cared even less before civilization.
People with healthy diets don’t need them to, and there are advantages to teeth secured very tightly into our jaw. Teeth are actually very strong and resilient.
And when people do start losing teeth, it mostly happens past the age of reproduction to the evolutionary impact is lessened. On an evolutionary scale, we’ve only fucked up our diets with sugar and processed foods very recently. Plus, we now have dentistry to reduce that impact, so I doubt evolution will make it happen to humanity in the future.
There are actually people that grow more teeth, but they have more complications than advantages. I suspect this has been the case historically as well. If everyone else can do with just the normal amount of teeth, these people don’t get an evolutionary advantage and their teeth gene quirks don’t become common among humans.
That said, scientists are working on stimulating teeth growth for people who have lost them or never had them. It’s not impossible, it seems, just very difficult.
Sharks do have regenerating teeth!
I think they are intended to, and they actually do… once (child teeth). Probably just broken due to genetic decay or environment (e.g. if humans are no longer fully maturing and what we call adult teeth are actually “intermediate” teeth). I suspect a deeper understanding of the recent tooth-regrowth drug(s) may provide a clue as to why it is currently broken.
