The human mouth has undergone significant changes throughout our evolutionary history. These changes have played a crucial role in our ability to eat, communicate, and survive.
Although our teeth and jaws look similar to our ancestors’, they aren’t quite the same. Let’s explore some of the most noticeable transformations that have occurred in human mouths over time!
Smaller Jaws Mean Less Room for Wisdom Teeth
One major change in human mouths is the development of smaller jaws. Our early ancestors had larger jaws and robust teeth that they used for chewing tough foods, such as vegetable roots and meat.
However, as cooking became more common, allowing people to chew softer foods, our jaws became smaller over time. This means less room for third molars, commonly known as wisdom teeth.
The reduction in jaw size doesn’t provide enough room for many people to have their wisdom teeth erupt without problems. As a result, impacted third molars have become more common, so many people need to have one, several, or all of their wisdom teeth removed [1].
Crowded Teeth Make Orthodontic Treatment Necessary
Our modern jaws often don’t allow all 32 teeth to erupt correctly, and not just wisdom teeth.
Whereas our ancestors had few instances of teeth crowding, impacted wisdom teeth, and improper bites, these issues are prevalent today, leading many people to need oral surgery for impacted wisdom teeth and orthodontic treatment for their bites and teeth [2].
Humans’ transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to sourcing more food from agriculture is suspected to have contributed to smaller jaws, meaning less room for all our teeth [3]. So while our jaws have changed over time, our teeth have more or less stayed the same.
How Oral Bacteria Has Changed Over Time
Research shows that the oral bacteria of modern humans and Neanderthals changed to accommodate starch [4]. A specific type of Streptococcus bacteria was found in the oral bacteria of our ancestors, suggesting that they began to consume more starchy foods even before agriculture became prevalent.
This change in oral bacteria that represents the consumption of more starchy foods in the diet may be partly responsible for the fluctuations in brain size that have occurred over our evolution, allowing us to have brains that are larger and more complex than our ancestors did, and contributing to our intelligence as a species [5].
Your Mouth Continues to Change!
Your mouth continues to change as you grow and age. As taste bud regeneration slows with age, your taste and food preferences can change as well. [6]. So the old saying goes, the only constant is change! By understanding the changes our mouths have undergone, we can gain insights into the fascinating evolutionary history that has shaped us as modern humans.
Sources:
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3873309/
2. https://news.stanford.edu/2020/07/21/toll-shrinking-jaws-human-health/
3. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0117301
4. https://www.shh.mpg.de/1995366/the-surprising-evolutionary-history-of-our-oral-
bacteria
5. https://www.britannica.com/science/human-evolution/Increasing-brain-size
6. https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/why-does-our-sense-of-taste-change-as-
we-get-older
