why does the fairer sex have bigger mouths?

[theclaud]

Ooooh, this thread takes me back to our first fistycuffs (stop sniggering at the back) claudee

Yes but since then I've become much more amenable due to my job in Conflict Resolution.

 

[Crackle]

I noticed you'd mellowed recently. you're not really in conflict resolution are you (should I really capitalise that?). Isn't that like putting kids in charge of guarding the chocolate? Anyway it's no good, I've been waiting all thread for you to bite Peanut and condemn User76 and BoB, instead only mildly suspicious rebukes: I come here for entertainment you know!

 

[theclaud]

I noticed you'd mellowed recently. you're not really in conflict resolution are you (should I really capitalise that?). Isn't that like putting kids in charge of guarding the chocolate? Anyway it's no good, I've been waiting all thread for you to bite Peanut and condemn User76 and BoB, instead only mildly suspicious rebukes: I come here for entertainment you know!

I think it's self-evident which posts are the most despicable. I notice they've just melted away rather than attempting to defend the indefensible - I call that a result.

And don't worry - in fact I'm pretty much in the conflict provocation business .

 

[Crackle]

Right, as we were then, carry on.

 

[Andy in Sig]

Yes but since then I've become much more amenable due to my job in Conflict Resolution.

That'll be the "get one seriously hard uppercut in quick, end of conflict" school of conflict resolution, would it?

 

[Arch]

Fair enough.

BTW the proportional thing: if people are generally larger than they were (and they have become so in the last 100 years) that is no reason why jaws should have become proportionally larger i.e. it is unlikely that they will occupy a bigger percentage of skull space if you see what I mean.

If anything, teeth are usually more conservative than bone, in response to environmental or evolutionary trends - tooth development is more reliable for ageing, for example, than bone fusion, which can be affected by external conditions. So if anything, if jaws got bigger, teeth would lag behind - making them proportionally smaller in the jaw...

 

[theclaud]

If anything, teeth are usually more conservative than bone, in response to environmental or evolutionary trends - tooth development is more reliable for ageing, for example, than bone fusion, which can be affected by external conditions. So if anything, if jaws got bigger, teeth would lag behind - making them proportionally smaller in the jaw...

Careful, Arch - this thread is reserved for nonsense, indignation and counter-indignation. You're in danger of spoiling it by posting stuff that is interesting...

 

[Andy in Sig]

I seem to remember reading that as humans evolved jaw size got smaller but the number of teeth didn't reduce enough, hence people with twisted teeth etc and wisdom teeth are a bit of a throwback to our tree dwelling ancestors apparently.

 

[Arch]

I seem to remember reading that as humans evolved jaw size got smaller but the number of teeth didn't reduce enough, hence people with twisted teeth etc and wisdom teeth are a bit of a throwback to our tree dwelling ancestors apparently.

I wouldn't say wisdom teeth themselves are a throwback - plenty of species have third molars (which is what your wisdom teeth are). But a lack of space for them is down to us having less massive jaws than our ancestors, yes.

I think it would be unlikely that the number of teeth would reduce, but eventually their size would - although slower than the jaw size.

theclaud - I do my best...