Why Our Ancestors Not Have Crooked Teeth?

Learn more about the prevalent scientific explanation explaining why impacted wisdom teeth and crooked teeth are relatively recent features in human evolution.

The fossil record indicates that early humans often had straight teeth, including wisdom teeth. Actually, the dental issues that drive today's need for braces and wisdom tooth extractions seem to be relatively recent inventions. What transpired, then? Scientists have a hypothesis, despite the fact that knowing for sure is next to impossible. G. Richard Scott taught the widely accepted theory regarding crooked teeth.

These ancient skulls almost definitely never had braces on, yet they all have perfectly straight teeth. Furthermore, this is a normal sample. Ancient humans often possessed straight teeth, complete with third molars—or wisdom teeth—according to the fossil record. Actually, the dental issues that drive today's need for braces and wisdom tooth extractions seem to be relatively recent inventions.

So what took place? Scientists have a hypothesis, despite the fact that it is almost difficult to know for certain. The ancestors of contemporary humans led a subsistence existence a few million years ago. Their jaws and teeth had to work hard to break down the food they consumed.

In fact, many of their teeth have severely worn and flattened surfaces. In general, their jaws and teeth were also bigger. They eventually started preparing meals by utilizing utensils and fire. This aided in its breakdown.

After much more time had passed, some people began farming and domesticating animals and plants some 12,000 years ago. Over the span of several thousand years, people began to refine and process their food more frequently.

The harder components of grains, such as the germ and bran from rice and wheat, were removed via milling processes. When the industrial revolution came along, technical advancements greatly expedited these processes. Many human mouths were quickly freed of a significant portion of their grinding, crushing, and pulverizing responsibilities. Intriguingly, tooth misalignment appears to have increased in frequency around this time.

Researchers have noticed a progressive reduction in the size of teeth and jaws in us and our ancestors after studying fossils dating back millions of years. Many believe that changes in food, such as the introduction of meat and the development of cooking, occurred gradually over most of human history and that increases in tooth and jaw size essentially followed one another.

However, given the more recent changes in agricultural and culinary practices, that connection was altered. According to the theory, some human groups during a very short period of time experienced a decline in jawbone size while teeth remained roughly the same in size, leaving them competing for limited space.

When they eventually settle in, they could push out others and go into odd positions. Then wisdom teeth, which are often the last to erupt, appear to simply make matters more difficult. They frequently have little to no room to emerge. This may result in impacted wisdom teeth, which, if not surgically removed, may cause pain and infections. Therefore, it would appear that chewing demands are higher when jaw size is larger.

Additionally, a lot of scientists believe that as people's diets have become less chewy, their jaws have shrunk, which has caused tooth crowding, resulting in impacted wisdom teeth and dental crookedness.

Some early experimental results have proven this concept to be correct. Researchers reared 43 squirrel monkeys in a 1983 study in either naturally hard or artificially soft dietary diets. Premolar crowding, rotated or displaced teeth, and shorter dental arches were all observed in those fed softer food.

Additionally, a 2004 study found that hyraxes grown on prepared food exhibited around 10% decreased growth in the chewing-related parts of the face compared to those who received dried and uncooked meals.

In other words, although heritable elements may be present in certain cases, the problem generally appears to be environmental—or one of lifestyle—rather than genetic.

Between 30 to 60% of persons in today's population are thought to have some degree of teeth crowding. But this pattern differs among populations around the world. Some individuals are born without wisdom teeth. And other people obtain their wisdom teeth without any problems despite having crowded or crooked teeth. Less processed diets and this seem to be related. So how may lifestyle modifications and orthodontics be used to avoid teeth crowding early on? It's definitely something to think about!