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The Kid Should See This

Where Do Teeth Come From?

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How long teeth can last? 30,000 years? 200,000 years? 300 million years? In this episode of It’s Okay to Be Smart, Joe Hanson gets an up-close look at some ancient saber-toothed tiger (smilodon), mastodon, tyrannosaurus, dilophosaurus, and helicoprion teeth with Matthew Brown at the University of Texas Vertebrate Paleontology Collection.

Plus, find out what happens when baby teeth are replaced by permanent teeth. Where were those adult teeth hiding? And how did they form?

Related reading: Tooth enamel and human tooth development. And check out this photo by Stefan Schäfer at the Hunterian Museum in London.

Child's skull with baby teeth and adult teeth, Hunterian Museum, London

Learn more about teeth with these videos: Straightening teeth with dental braces, an 18-month time lapse and what causes cavities?

Bonus: The Narwhal, Unicorns of the Sea.

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