tibberous Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Up until a few hundred years ago, all you could do if your tooth hurt was pull it, which makes having nerves in your teeth pretty damn pointless. Now the nerves are good for letting people know when to go to the dentist, but if your teeth were solid, they wouldn't rot to begin with. Solid enamel would mean no cavities, the tooth would literally have to wear away to stump -- so why the hell aren't teeth just enamel? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamwest Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Why cant a guy fold in half and "enjoy" himself more often I have these same questions.. But teeth are tissue not bone, anyhow enamel is too brittle to make a solid tooth Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1132948 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Why cant a guy fold in half and "enjoy" himself more often I have these same questions.. Solid teeth / ability to give yourself a blow job; they're the same.. Best not mixed of course. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1132958 Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 so just cut to the chase, have all your teeth removed and replaced with enamel. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1133017 Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvingien Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 so just cut to the chase, have all your teeth removed and replaced with enamel. I am doing just that! Buts its fooking expensive and painfull! Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1133694 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignace Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 Why cant a guy fold in half and "enjoy" himself more often They thought it was pointless to add the feature as they already had a design in place. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1133744 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tazerenix Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 You could do what kayne west is doing and just make your teeth diamonds. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1134831 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Up until a few hundred years ago, all you could do if your tooth hurt was pull it, which makes having nerves in your teeth pretty damn pointless. How is that pointless? If your tooth hurts there is a reason, perhaps infection, and by removing the tooth you're preventing the infection from spreading. Hardly seems pointless to me. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1134873 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 You could do what kayne west is doing and just make your teeth diamonds. What a penis. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1134899 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikachu2000 Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 You could do what kayne west is doing and just make your teeth diamonds. What a penis. Ya got that right . . . Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1135070 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibberous Posted November 16, 2010 Author Share Posted November 16, 2010 Up until a few hundred years ago, all you could do if your tooth hurt was pull it, which makes having nerves in your teeth pretty damn pointless. How is that pointless? If your tooth hurts there is a reason, perhaps infection, and by removing the tooth you're preventing the infection from spreading. Hardly seems pointless to me. But if it was solid enamel, there would be nothing to infect. Why have smoke detectors when you can have a concrete house? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1135108 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Houses are generally not primarily constructed of concrete, and although looking at it from this single perspective it seems that it might be best, you must realize that other factors you are not considering come into play. Otherwise this method would be employed universally, no? Your original question suffers from the same lack of varied perspective. Besides, in your original question you make it sound as if it was a conscious decision made by someone. In your concrete house analogy, it might be fair to ask "Why aren't houses made of concrete?", but you can't apply the same question to the composition of human teeth, for there was no conscious logical decision made in determining this. Evolution, and more specifically, natural selection, doesn't necessarily return optimal results, but rather, on average, better results. Following your same line of thought, similar questions would be: "Why isn't the human skeleton composed of steel" or "Why don't we have twice the brain capacity". Similar to your question, these questions suffer from the same two flaws: 1. Although when contemplating them initially they might seem better, there are most likely flaws that we have not foreseen because we're looking so blindly. 2. Even if (and that's a big if) it turned out that our postulates were indeed true, evolution simply doesn't work that way. I suppose to reiterate and answer your question most concisely: The reason is one of, or a combination of, the following: 1. Your postulate isn't really optimal. 2. Evolution doesn't necessarily provide optimal results. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1135137 Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Even if your house was made of concrete, that wouldn't stop things inside it from burning. given that you have all kinds of burnable things in your house, there's a good chance you'll die just the same. Especially if you are sleeping on that nice flammable bed. Which is mainly what smoke detectors are useful for...waking your ass up when you are sleeping. Also, most modern smoke detectors not only detect smoke, but they also detect other harmful gases. But I'm done straying from the point. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1135161 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikachu2000 Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 If teeth were nothing but enamel, how would they grow? They need to be flesh to grow in as baby teeth, and then be replaced by your 'grown-up' teeth (and then caps, crowns, dentures, etc., but that's another conversation). Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1135170 Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Anyways, I think the overall point Alex was trying to make is that unlike concrete houses, you don't choose to grow up with fake teeth, so your question is more or less moot and/or rhetorical. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1135203 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Anyways, I think the overall point Alex was trying to make is that unlike concrete houses, you don't choose to grow up with fake teeth, so your question is more or less moot and/or rhetorical. I could be wrong, but what I got from it was: "why aren't teeth naturally solid enamel?" Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1135220 Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Well, yes. The point being, what's the point in asking why something is one way vs. another when it is a naturally occurring thing. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1135244 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 Well, such questions are the basis for science, but I think I understand what you meant. If tibberous was asking for an answer from an evolution point-of-view (which I don't necessarily get the feeling he is), then the discrepancy lies seemingly in the understanding of evolution. A better way to go about this would be to support the positive postulate and explain why you believe that they would be solid enamel (simply because you think it might be better isn't a valid argument), since the burden of proof is on the person trying to prove the positive assertion, anyway. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1135261 Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellix Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 I read an article in a newspaper ages ago that they were close to developing something where your teeth grow back again... That would be so awesome to grow an entire new set of teeth All white, new, perfect! Also heard about a drug that can increase life by decades so maybe coupled with this... wicked sick Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1139518 Share on other sites More sharing options...
squigs Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 I think the real question is why are dentists so bloody expensive?? I am an anti-dentite... Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1140129 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibberous Posted December 22, 2010 Author Share Posted December 22, 2010 If tibberous was asking for an answer from an evolution point-of-view That's exactly what I was asking. Steel bones would make you heavy and require your body to not only acquire, but sculpt, large amounts of steel. Having a larger brain would take longer to development, and require more calories to support. Also, humans have giant head when they are first born - before C-sections, a lot more babies died in labor. Almost anything that would seem evolutionarily beneficial normally has a drawback (generally the extra food required to support it) But it just seems like there is no downside to having teeth be solid. Maybe without nerves, people chewed hard stuff until their teeth broke? Or filed them down for looks? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/218359-why-arent-teeth-just-solid-enamel/#findComment-1150192 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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