The Teeth of the matter
Media
Part of Panorama
- Title
- The Teeth of the matter
- Creator
- Loftin, Horace
- Language
- English
- Source
- Panorama XII (10) October 1960
- Year
- 1960
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- It is no denture 'The leetti 0^ "The Tflatteh, by Horace Loftin 7 he fine set of teeth of the alligator performs its func tion wonderfully well. They are sharp, stout peg-like just right for grabbing and hold ing on to the prey until it is ready to be gulped down, whole or in pieces. But as in all the vertebrate animals with teeth, up to the mammals, its teeth are essentially all alike. The mammals, on the other hand, are characterized by hav ing teeth of several kinds in each individual. For example, man has incisors in front for biting, rather degenerate cani nes for stabbing and holding, and premolars and molars for chewing and grinding. There are exceptions to this generality, of course, but they are so few that they prove the rule. Each mammalian group or species has, as a rule again, its own particular kind of denti tion, its incisors, canines, premo lars and molars being so modi- . fied (or lacking) as to fit its particular feeding habits. Man is an omnivorous (all-eating) animal, and his teeth reflect this by being quite generalized — no one kind of tooth outstrips the other in size or importance. Another familiar mammal with “similar” omnivorous habits car ries a set of teeth remarkably like our own — the hog! CT he rodents are gnawing * animals; and as might be expected, the front incisors are extremely well-developed and specialized. Canines, which would be virtually useless to ro dents, are completely absent Premolars and molars are pre sent for grinding. The incisors of rodents grow continuously throughout life, being worn down (and kept sharp) by the opposing incisors on the oppo site jaw as well as by hard us age. 92 Panorama
- pages
- 92