Why do we have nerve endings in our teeth? They seem to serve no useful purpose.
@jposamen, via Twitter
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As our only fuel hatch, the mouth is pretty important. It needs detectors for infection, decay and problematic food that is too hot, hard or sharp.
Maria do Rosario Cassettari (dental surgeon),
São Paulo, Brazil
The nerve endings of the teeth may seem useless, but they are responsible for triggering an alert signal that prevents mechanical damage to the teeth, differentiating between hard and soft or hot and cold elements. Above all, they signal an urgency to the brain.
In other words, without the nerve endings, soup would be humanity’s main meal.
Hillary Shaw
Newport, Shropshire, UK
Without tooth nerves you would soon have no teeth, just as without nerves in your fingertips you would soon have no fingers because you would be unaware of harm to them.
All food may contain unexpected hard bits: bone in meat, stones in fruit, grit in vegetables. Tooth nerves enable us to sense bite quality and distinguish between, say, a hard but biteable nut that we should eat and an unbiteable stone that we shouldn’t.
Don Gibson(dental surgeon)
Yeovil, Somerset, UK
The nerve endings in teeth contain the stem cells that formed the enamel and dentine in the original tooth formation.
Treatment of dental decay has evolved hugely in the past 10 years, and wholesale decay removal, which has been usual practice for decades, is now in question. This is due to these stem cells being able to produce further dentine in response to attack by a decay front.
If the decay periphery is removed, the deeper nerve front can effectively self-heal due to these stem cells, with dentine reforming once an effective sealed filling of the decayed tooth stops sugar from reaching the infected deeper parts.
As a result, we can avoid root canal treatment and extractions.
@morley_darryl, via Twitter
To punish us for our poor decisions.
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