#dentition

[pacificremains]

Wolverine with an extra tooth! Could be a retained deciduous incisor, but it's as big as the others.

I love this skull; wolverines are one of my favorites. This one came from Alaska where they are numerous enough that they aren't considered threatened.

[onebluedalek]

[artbyifer]

Erisol For Sprites Zine 2024

My piece for the sprite edition of the Homestuck Bloodline zines. This was while I was computerless, so it was done entirely in Ibis Paint X on my GalaxyTab. Woulda been easier with a pen, but I don't have one so hey. My focus was on getting transparent/glowy effects right to make him look like a gooey ghost, and I think I did a pretty good job if  I do say so myself :)

Posted using PostyBirb

[ilovemuseums]

A case of skulls focusing on dentition

At the Museum of science and nature in Bordeaux

[wtf-fun-factss]

Squirrel teeth grow 5 inches a year. Click to read the full fact.

[shadyufo]

I was walking the woods a couple days ago and found this jawbone! Was thinking it might be a raccoon or other canid?

———

Thanks for the submission, @lost80smixtape! You've found yourself a lovely little cat jawbone. Could possibly be bobcat depending on your location but it's pretty small and the shape of that canine tooth looks much better for domestic cat. Neat find!

Easiest way too tell cat jaws from canids or other mammals like raccoons is by dentition—cats have only two lower premolars and one lower molar which makes them pretty distinctive. Canids generally have four lower premolars and three molars. Here's a reference shot I took a while back of a coyote lower jaw for comparison:

And raccoons have four lower premolars and two molars. Here's a set of raccoon lower jaws for reference:

Hope that helps!

[scriptdogtor]

Animal Anatomy for Creators: Dentition in Age, Illness, and Injury - Part 1

Source:  Horses' teeth. Clarke, William H., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Anyone watching a crime show knows how much we can tell about a person through their teeth. But what about animals? How can we translate perfectly-drawn anatomy to character?

Since teeth are used regularly in many species, they wear and change along with the animal’s history. Most animals have adult teeth for life. Some teeth are designed to grow fast enough to compensate for heavy wear, which can be problematic if the environment or diet changes (such as a domestic vs. wild rabbit).

I’m going to focus on species which don’t continually replace teeth, as I haven’t worked with a lot of crocodilians or sharks directly. I’ll need to do a bit more digging before I explore that topic.

Under the Cut (Part 1)

Diet & Dentition

Herbivores

Carnivores

In the future (because I got really tired and I need food)

Maybe an apology for biasing towards feline teeth

Omnivores

Specialized teeth

Wear types

Gum & Tooth Color

Infection & Abscess

Behavioral Impacts

Images of animal skulls and mild dental disease under the cut. Links included to images of severe dental disease.

Diet & Dentition

Herbivores

Source:  Hippopotamus amphibius HIPPOPOTAMUS. Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo. Wikimedia Commons.

Note the difference in molar color between the older and younger hippos.

Source:  European rabbit, skull, Coll. Museum Wiesbaden. Wikimedia Commons.

Herbivore teeth are the pickup trucks of dentition. They experience and need to be made for heavy, constant wear. Herbivores may chew fibrous, often starchy material that might be protected by thick cell walls or irritating structures.

Herbivorous teeth have evolved to compensate for this wear. In fact, when many herbivores don’t eat regularly, they are prone to conditions like overgrown teeth and ulcers.

These giant jawbones support strong chewing muscles. These animals are meant to be eating for most of the day.

Since I should have realized herbivore teeth pics would be harder to find, have a skull!

Source:  giraffe skull model, Brevard Zoo.

Note the teeth for two main purposes: pulling and chewing. Get a look at those jawbones too. Those anchor very strong, very well-used muscles.

For some examples of abnormal wear, check out this veterinarian’s article on horse dental problems. This isn’t a perfect example of what occurs in wild animals but since we take closer looks at horse teeth it’s a nice set of pictures. Slight content warning for dental disease. https://www.texasequinedentist.com/equine-dental-care/common-equine-dental-problems.html#:~:text=Horse%20teeth%20wear%20in%20specific,issue%20for%20today's%20domestic%20horses.

Carnivores

Source:  Clouded Leopard Mouth Open. Eric Kilby via Wikimedia Commons. (fox skull, seal skull)

Carnivorous animals eat less frequently, but need to remove and pick apart flesh from bone. They experience less frequent and more specialized use.

Consider several tigers and their dentition. What is different about them? Which individuals are older?

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shebalso/528669501/

See: Pink gums, little discoloration, little signs of wear especially on the back teeth.

Source: Flehmen on a tiger. Wikimedia commons.

See: Wear, slight inflammation between gums/teeth, yellowing, missing incisor. Possibly a chip on the right upper canine? Could be the image quality. Look at the discoloration on those molars.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dont-know/3278985641/

See: What happened to those incisors? I’m pretty sure those are adult canine teeth and those usually come in last, and we can’t see the lower incisors....it could be that those are coming in and I’m just not sure on the tooth order. This cat doesn’t look old but I’m not sure what went on with the front teeth here.

Source:  Young Panthera tigris altaica, Wikimedia Commons.

See: Here come the grownup canines! Notice some slight inflammation around the gums where they’re erupting, and how the rest of the teeth are whiter and healthy.

[mirrorballzzz]

A little bit of a rant here, but today we had a carving exam, and we were all like okay that is fine. One of us was supposed to choose which tooth we were going to carve, and we all agreed on the upper central incisor or the upper canine.

All good, right?

Well, when it was time for our dentition lab, the TAs looked us straight in the eye, and said that we were going to carve five teeth. Like, EXCUSE US? DID WE HEAR YOU RIGHT????

FIVE TEETH?????

IN TWO HOURS????

One dude even said it took him six days to carve the upper 1st pre molar.

Long story short, I only managed to finish three, and part of the fourth, and I missed up while making two of the teeth that I managed to finish.

And my back is in spain without the S.