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Since the fourth millennium BCE, when urban civilizations first appeared in ancient Mesopotamia, humans have strived to achieve proper dental hygiene. Yet the nylon-bristled toothbrush we use today didn’t come along until the 1930s. For the thousands of years in between, people relied on rudimentary tools that evolved with scientific knowledge and technological advancements over time. Some of the earliest toothbrush predecessors date as far back as 3500 BCE. Here’s a look at how people kept their teeth clean before the modern toothbrush.AdvertisementChew Sticks and ToothpicksSometime around the year 3500 BCE, the ancient Babylonians (located near modern-day Iraq) created a...

In a new analysis of thousands of teeth from ancient skeletons buried at a site near Naples, Italy, archaeologists have discovered that people were using their mouths to help with their work -- occupations that likely involved processing hemp into string and fabric. We all use our teeth as tools -- to open bottles, hold pieces of paper, or even smoke a pipe. When we do this, we open ourselves up to the possibility of cracking our teeth but also create microscopic grooves and injuries to the enamel surface. Since teeth don't remodel like bones do, these tiny insults remain...

Teeth from long-dead people and animals are divulging the history of modern-day pathogens.Ancient DNA extracted from the teeth of humans who lived long ago is yielding new information about pathogens past and present. In one of the latest studies, researchers uncovered and sequenced ancient herpes genomes for the first time, from the teeth of long-dead Europeans. The strain of herpes virus that causes lip sores in people today — called HSV-1 — was once thought to have emerged in Africa more than 50,000 years ago. But the new data, published in Science Advances on 27 July1, indicate that its origin...

A man with a metal detector searching a freshly plowed carrot field in Switzerland found a large ornate jewelry set dating to the Bronze Age — as well as other surprising items including a bear's tooth, a beaver's tooth and a fossilized shark's tooth, local officials said this week. Franz Zahn made the unusual discovery in August while he was "out and about in a freshly harvested carrot field" in Güttingen, about 50 miles northeast of Zurich, officials from Thurgau Canton said in a Monday news release. Zahn initially found a bronze disc, and immediately realized it was an "extraordinary...

(Last Updated On: June 12, 2023) NATIONAL MEGALODON DAY | JUNE 15 On the 15th of June, National Megalodon Day teaches us about the most massive shark that ever lived! #NationalMegalodonDay The Megalodon swam the Earth’s oceans for 20 million years during the Cenozoic Era. Their mouths spanned 8 to 11 feet wide and were filled with rows of sharp teeth. With a bite force of over 40,000 pounds per square inch, a maximum weight of over 60 tons, and serrated teeth measuring near 7 inches, their prey did not stand a chance. Megalodon’s dentition consisted of 276 serrated teeth....

President Biden is undergoing a root canal at the White House on Monday after complaining of tooth pain, his physician said in a letter released to the public. Biden’s dental team examined him Sunday and took X-rays after the president said he was experiencing pain in one of his teeth, presidential physician Kevin O’Connor said. The dental team determined a root canal would be necessary to address the issue, O’Connor said, adding they performed the initial procedure Sunday at the White House. “The President tolerated the procedure well. There were no complications,” O’Connor said.

* The Tyrannosaurus might have had lips, a new study suggests * Researchers compared skulls and studied teeth for the study * Some scientists aren't convinced about this theory FILE – Stan, one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil discovered, is on display, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, at Christie’s in New York. The teeth on T. rex and other big theropods were likely covered by scaly lips, concludes a study published Thursday, March 30, 2023, in the journal Science. The dinosaur’s teeth didn’t stick out when its mouth was closed, and even in a wide open bite,...

Carcharocles turgidus teeth. An 8-year-old boy made a prehistoric discovery this month by finding a giant tooth believed to be from the long-extinct angustidens—a megatooth shark species. Riley Gracely of Pennsylvania discovered the massive tooth during a family vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. According to Palmetto Fossil Excursions (PFE), the boy discovered a 4.75-inch tooth belonging to the extinct shark Carcharocles angustidens while participating in a fossil-hunting excursion near Summerville. "Truly the find of a lifetime," PFE wrote in an Aug. 11 Facebook post. "This young man just scored a 4.75" Angustiden tooth in our Premium Gravel Layer piles...

A molar discovered in a cave in Laos shows where the enigmatic Denisovans could have interbred with the ancestors of modern humans. A tooth found inside of a mountain cave in Laos has solved one of the biggest scientific mysteries of the Denisovans, a branch of ancient humans that disappeared roughly 50,000 years ago. Since 2010, when Denisovan teeth and finger bones were first discovered, DNA testing has revealed that the enigmatic hominins were among the ancestors of people alive today in Australia and the Pacific. But scientists didn’t understand how the Denisovans, whose scant remains had been found only...

A milk-tooth found in the vicinity of "Riparo del Broion" on the Berici Hills in the Veneto region bears evidence of one of the last Neanderthals in Italy. This small canine tooth belonged to a child between 11 and 12 that had lived in that area around 48,000 years ago. This is the most recent Neanderthal finding in Northern Italy... The genetic analysis reveals that the owner of the tooth found in Veneto was a relative, on their mother's side, of Neanderthals that had lived in Belgium. This makes this site in Veneto a key-area for comprehending the gradual extinction...

A Ukrainian broadcaster demonstrated remarkable composure after she nonchalantly caught her tooth after it fell out during a live read, as seen in an incredible clip circulating local media. According to the post, the TV presenter was reporting live on the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday morning when she felt her front tooth come loose in the middle of the broadcast. The Ukrainian reporter demonstrated professionalism under pressure. Fortunately, instead of losing her head, the steel-nerved newscaster can be seen in the 24-second clip calmly collecting the chomper with her hand and completing the read as if nothing had happened —...

A scanning electron microscope image of newly-grown enamel using amelogenin-chitosan hydrogel. Credit: Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC ==================================================================================================== Dual discoveries at USC propose a promising method to regrow nonliving hard tissue, lessening or even eliminating pain associated with tooth decay, which the National Institutes of Health calls the most prevalent chronic disease. Janet Moradian-Oldak, a professor at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC, has investigated methods to regrow tooth enamel for the past two decades. The process is especially tricky because unlike bone, mature enamel cannot rejuvenate. Tooth enamel is a nonliving tissue. The a-ha moment...

Forty-seven smooth teeth dug out of a cave in southern China reveal that Homo sapiens may have arrived there 80,000 years ago...The findings, published this week in the journal Nature, may compel researchers to reconsider their theories about human migrations out of Africa.

We're constantly told we should be flossing our teeth - despite it being fiddly, time-consuming and sometimes painful.Figures show that less than a fifth of us actually bother to do it regularly - with many tacky rolls of floss gathering dust in bathrooms the world over.Now, one leading expert has warned that if not performed correctly, flossing can actually do more harm than good.Here, Robin Seymour, Emeritus Professor of Dental Sciences at Newcastle University and leading periodontologist, explains why - and suggests other, easier ways to get perfect pearly-whites...Facebook

In what Prof. Barkai describes as a "time capsule," the analysed calculus revealed three major findings: charcoal from indoor fires; evidence for the ingestion of essential plant-based dietary components; and fibers that might have been used to clean teeth or were remnants of raw materials. "Prof. Karen Hardy published outstanding research on the dental calculus of Neanderthals from El Sidron cave in Spain, but these dated back just 40,000-50,000 years—we are talking far earlier than this," said Prof. Barkai. "This is the first evidence that the world's first indoor BBQs had health-related consequences," said Prof. Barkai. "The people who lived...

Must be playing all that hardball by President Barack Obama’s administration. Attorney General Eric Holder becomes the second Cabinet official to miss travel after breaking something. Holder, the country’s top law enforcement official, cracked a tooth last night and missed a trip to Aspen, Colorado, where he had been scheduled to attend the “Aspen Ideas Festival” on the eve of a long weekend for the Fourth of July holiday.

WASHINGTON, - An American dad made himself and his 7-year-old son into viral stars with a video chronicling a baby tooth extraction using dental floss, a golf club and a golf ball. Phil Smith said his son, Noah, complained of pain when they attempted to simply pull the loose tooth out of his mouth, so he devised a system using a piece of floss to connect the tooth to a golf ball he then struck with a club. "My 7-year-old wanted to pull his tooth but was concerned it would be too painful to pull SLOWLY," Smith wrote in the...

Nosebleeds are common among children and young adults, but one young man's frequent nosebleeds turned out to have a rather unusual cause: He had a tooth in his nose, according to a new report of his case. After suffering from nosebleeds once or twice a month for three years, the 22-year-old man in Saudi Arabia consulted a doctor, who found an ivory-white, bony mass, about half an inch (1 centimeter) long in the man's nose. The doctors then consulted with dentist colleagues, who concluded that the mass was actually an extra tooth that had somehow ended up growing in his...

An international team of scientists led by Prof Cheng-Ming Chuong from the University of Southern California has discovered unique cellular and molecular mechanisms behind tooth renewal in American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis).Their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, pave the way for tooth regeneration in people. “Humans naturally only have two sets of teeth – baby teeth and adult teeth. Ultimately, we want to identify stem cells that can be used as a resource to stimulate tooth renewal in adult humans who have lost teeth. But, to do that, we must first understand how they renew...

If you happen to be missing all your own front teeth, the temptation when you see a man sporting a full set of choppers — gold, no less! — is obviously keen. Thus, Robert Ester, 46, of Worcester came to be standing before a judge yesterday for allegedly stealing another man’s grill, Springfield police said.