Tuesday, February 19, 2013

How Forks Gave Us Overbites and Pots Saved the Toothless - Atlantic Mobile

I love random, interesting things like this.

How Forks Gave Us Overbites and Pots Saved the Toothless - Atlantic Mobile:

"Until around 250 years ago in the West, archaeological evidence suggests that most human beings had an edge-to-edge bite, similar to apes. In other words, our teeth were aligned liked a guillotine, with the top layer clashing against the bottom layer. Then, quite suddenly, this alignment of the jaw changed: We developed an overbite, which is still normal today. The top layer of teeth fits over the bottom layer like a lid on a box.

This change is far too recent for any evolutionary explanation. Rather, it seems to be a question of usage. An American anthropologist, C. Loring Brace, put forward the thesis that the overbite results from the way we use cutlery, from childhood onwards."