Did you know that traces of evolution can be found in your mouth? It shouldn’t come as a surprise to many considering how painful and useless it is to have wisdom teeth. Let’s see how scientists explain why we have wisdom teeth, and whether we’ll lose them anytime soon.
Lack Of Room For Wisdom Teeth In Your Mouth Is Probably Proof Of Evolution!
In humans, there are four 20-year-old teeth, one on each side of the lower and upper jaws.
These teeth usually appear when we’re 17-25 years old, as is well known to those who suffer from it. And most of the time they create problems.
Back in time, wisdom teeth were not useless.
Our ancestors had much bigger jaws than we do, which helped them chew a tough diet of roots, nuts, and leaves.
Today, we have utensils to cut our food and of course we cook our meals so they become softer and easier to chew.
As a result, we don't need them anymore and there just isn't room for them.
And they often become impacted and have to be removed surgically.
Statistically speaking, 40% of the human population don't even have wisdom teeth today.
This is considered as evidence of evolution by scientists.
“Teeth can tell us a lot about the lives of our ancestors, and how they evolved over the last 7 million years,” says Alistair Evans of Monash University.
“What makes modern humans different from our fossil relatives? Paleontologists have worked for decades to interpret these fossils, and looked for new ways to extract more information from teeth.”
In sum, if you've been looking around to see evidence of evolution, maybe it's time to look at yourself in the mirror!
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