In this week’s blog, Dental Center 4Smile decided to explore the largest teeth in the history of planet Earth. We’ve singled out 5 interesting facts about dinosaur teeth!
Paleontologists can learn a lot about the size of a dinosaur’s skull and the teeth within it. Dinosaur teeth best reveal clues about what they ate, how they obtained food, and how they digested it. For example, some dinosaurs had long, rake-like teeth. They used their teeth to strip leaves from branches. Other dinosaurs had sharp, knife-like teeth and used them to tear meat from their prey.
Read the 5 most interesting facts about dinosaur teeth:
- All dinosaurs had the ability to regenerate their teeth. Scientists believe that herbivorous dinosaurs replaced their teeth more frequently to prevent excessive wear from all that vegetation. Diplodocus often replaced its teeth – one new tooth every 35 days – while Camarasaurus needed almost 62 days to grow a new tooth.
- Apatosaurus had teeth but could not chew. This herbivore, believed to have weighed 19.8 tons, used its teeth to tear leaves from branches and then simply swallowed everything.
- The dinosaur everyone knows, T-Rex, had all of its teeth sharpened, as if it had a mouth full of fangs. However, not all dinosaur teeth served the same function. According to a 2012 study in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, T-Rex’s front teeth were used to grab and pull prey; its side teeth tore flesh, and its back teeth ground the meat into chunks and pushed food down its throat. The longest tooth ever recorded in a dinosaur belonged to a T-Rex – an incredible 12 inches, or 30.48 cm! This measurement includes the tooth root, so the exposed part of the tooth was about half of those 12 inches. Another interesting fact about T-Rex – it may have been a cannibal!
- Triceratops teeth were made of five layers of tissue. Modern herbivores such as horses and bison have four layers of tissue in their teeth, while modern reptiles, including crocodiles, have only two layers of tissue in their teeth.
- Hadrosaurus had more teeth than any other dinosaur. These dinosaurs had nearly 1,000 teeth called grinding teeth, which they used to grind large amounts of plants.
Dinosaurs are very unique creatures that many people find fascinating. Some of the best information about dinosaurs can be discovered in books and museums. Some museums even have real dinosaur fossils – the perfect place to learn all about these giant creatures!
Don’t forget about the teeth of your little dinosaur lovers. Regular dental checkups help maintain strong, healthy teeth and a bright, happy smile.
