No selection pressure after the age at which our adult teeth fail
this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2024
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I think they are intended to, and they actually do... once (child teeth). Probably just broken due to genetic decay or environment (e.g. if humans are no longer fully maturing and what we call adult teeth are actually "intermediate" teeth). I suspect a deeper understanding of the recent tooth-regrowth drug(s) may provide a clue as to why it is currently broken.
Funny, just read this today
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a60952102/tooth-regrowth-human-trials-japan/
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Because our design is not particularly intelligent ...
Edit: Scientific proof of my thesis:
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You said exactly why in your post: "...our biological design..."
There's no such thing. We evolved. That means we're a mix of traits passed along over time by individuals that managed to live long enough to breed.
That's it. That's the whole explanation for any question about "why don't humans do x thing as part of our biology?"
Any given trait is all about lasting long enough to make babies. Once that occurs, all that's left is a general proclivity to ensuring the babies survive long enough to do the same. Regrowing teeth isn't part of that. It's a niche trait that isn't as useful as you'd think for humans. We don't need to gnaw at things, we don't need to crack bones with our mouths, nothing that would make a third set of teeth an advantage, or different teeth an advantage.
Teeth are not easily breakable. We actually can crack bone with our jaws and the teeth will usually survive if the bone isn't too thick; we just have better tools for that because way back when, the proto-humans that used tools had more babies that survived to make more babies. You have to abuse and/or neglect your teeth to break them for the vast majority. There are congenital issues where that isn't the case, but we've also bred ourselves into a social species that takes care of each other, so we aren't limited to a harsh, primitive survival level of things.
I really don't get why people think of teeth as fragile. They're incredibly durable for what we need them for, and require only minimal care to last well beyond breeding age. Even if you factor in modern diets being bad for teeth, regular care for them (brushing and flossing) can stave off those effects for decades. Go search up some of the dental research on old human bodies from archaeological sites. People survived very well with just one set of adult teeth.
And, some humans do have extras that can come in later in life, though it's very rare and comes with drawbacks (according to the last lady I dated that was an anthropologist anyway). Supposedly, having the extras actually weakens the regular adult teeth and makes them more prone to damage. There's always a tradeoff in things like this.
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I think there just hasn't been an evolutionary need for them to regrow. In past millenia, people had kids and died before toothlessness really became an issue and teeth lasted longer before our modern industrial diet.
That's going to be a thing of the past. A drug that regenerates human teeth will start tests in September.
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Yeah, if evolution is so great, how come we can't fly??
Philosophical take.
We can. We figured out how. Thousands of humans fly every day across the planet faster than any bird. We can also live in environments we were definitely not designed to whether it’s with clothing, fire, or advanced HVAC systems. And we’ve pushed that further with our own little atmospheres under the sea or in space.
Evolution didn’t stop with us. It is us. Evolution, in trying every possible permutation landed on an organism that adapts the world around it, rather than waiting generations to adapt to the world around it.
Now it’s a matter of if our social and societal evolution will see us succeed or end in failure. If we don’t solve the climate crises we created, if we end up murdering each other, if we get smacked by an unforeseen object from space, potentially built by even more advanced evolution, we lost, and evolution will continue. Evolution is us, but far too often we’re too blind to see that gift, and advance responsibly
We can. Its just considered exercise so we choose not to.
And how come we need to sleep?
And eat food?
And why not have wheels for feet?
And what would a chair look like if our knees bent the other way?
I know the point of your answer was not to dwell on these things, but:
And what would a chair look like if our knees bent the other way?
Is actually very interesting, would've we designed it as a normal chair but we would rest our chests instead of backs? Or would they have a place to rest the legs instead of on the floor?
I like that question too. It's originally from a stand up comedian named Gallagher.
How come my butt cheeks don't go lblblblblblblblblblb when I go down a waterslide
When does toth not degenerate?
There are no stupid questions. But there are grammatically flawed questions.
I tried to rephrase his question in my head, and I ended up with “Why do not teeth degenerate.”
I need sleep.
The diet that we evolved to consume (fruits, lean meats and fibrous plants) was much less damaging to our teeth than the current high-sugar, high-fat, highly processed foods. And human lifespans was shorter, so less time for teeth to damage. So there wasn’t a strong evolutionary need to regenerate them (unlike an animal like sharks)