Re: Wisdom Teeth in Fossil Record

[christopher brochu <cbrochu@fieldmuseum.org>]

>Hey,
>I don't have wisdom teeth, and they are not forming, meaning that I only
>have 28 teeth.
>
>Okay, why is this important?  It probably isn't.  But, I was just
>curious-are there any signs of 'widsom teeth' in the fossil record.  I
>understand that the absence of wisdom teeth in humans is not common, yet
>at the same time not uncommon.  Are there any complete fossilized
>skulls/jaws of any vertebrates (especially mammals) that show the lacking
>of some teeth?  Is there anything compatable to human wisdom teeth in the
>fossil record at all, or is this just a human thing?  I doubt this to be
>the case, as I can't think of the reason why only humans (and only a small
>percentage of humans at that) would have a lack of teeth, yet have normal,
>healthy dentaries.


Wisdom teeth are specifically a Homo sapiens thing - basically, our snouts
are too short for our third molars, but we haven't gotten around to losing
them yet.  Except for a few lucky individuals such as yourself and those of
us who've had them taken out the hard way, of course.  And in a few people,
they erupt normally and function as normal molars.

I'm not sure where within hominids we go from having normal third molars to
the constricted condition in modern humans.  I don't work on primates.

Loss of molars from behind occurs in other placental groups as well (e.g.
cats), but the marsupial pattern is somewhat different.




chris



_________________________
Christopher A. Brochu
Department of Geology
Field Museum
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