Hey parents and caregivers, this one is for the kids! At Brinkley Dental we take pride in our reputation as Brampton’s “gentle dentist,” and our status as a true family-oriented dental office. That means we tend to see a lot of children here and because it’s September, we know plenty of our pediatric patients have just returned to school! If your little ones are looking for some fun facts to share with their friends at recess, we’ve got the goods on what they need to know! From true Canadiana facts about beaver teeth to little known trivia from the entire animal (and fish) kingdom – we’ve got you covered.
Fun Facts
- Beaver teeth are SHARP! Ok, that’s what the kids would call a “no-brainer” right? I mean they chew down trees after all. But did you know that beaver teeth are ORANGE? Also, beaver teeth NEVER stop growing but they don’t get too long because….well, because they’re always chewing down trees!
- A moose tooth is large but surprisingly, not because it’s used for eating meat. Moose diets tend to consist of more plant-based foods You’ll often find moose, despite their daunting size, dining on marshy plants, grass, lichen and occasionally, tree bark that’s already peeled away from the tree.
- Bear teeth wear down with age, in part because they eat both meat and vegetation! Comparing grizzly bears, brown bears and polar bears will result in this guaranteed and shareable fun fact: that polar bears have the biggest teeth! They have 42 teeth altogether and maybe they are some of the largest amongst their fellow bears because they are using them to tear off chunks of blubber…and they probably don’t eat anywhere near the same amount of berries as other bears do!
- How about this super cool, “Did You Know” fact? Alligators and their cousins the Crocodile have the strongest bites on earth! Yup – on earth! They also have no known predators. I mean – would you mess with a crocodile? I know what the team here at Brinkley would have to say: “See ya later Alligator – yeah sure, in a while Crocodile!”
- A sharks is another member of the animal kingdom with very few predators. In fact, we’re not sure they have any! Here’s the cool thing about these ferocious fish. First of all, they’re NOT fish! Actually, they ARE fish (just kidding) but they are different from most other fish because they have a “cartilaginous” skeleton. This means while most fish have bones, a shark is all cartilage. And teeth. They have 3000 teeth!
- Hippopotamus have the largest teeth of land animals (even though they spend a lot of time in the water!) measuring up to 16 inches long! Get out your ruler from school to see how long 16 inches really is. Now imagine that’s your tooth!
- Finally – for today’s biggest, “Did You Know” of all – Did you know that snails have teeth? In fact, they do. Snails have an enormous amount of teeth and they are found on their tongue! They can have anywhere from 1,000 to upwards of 12,000 teeth and yes, you read that right. Their tongue, covered in teeth, scrapes along the surface of food (mostly organic matter) and scrapes off the soft bits for its nutrition. There is even one kind of snail, a Cone Snail, whose teeth are venomous and it paralyzes its prey before eating it. Who knew?
Brinkley Dental had so much fun assembling these random facts about teeth that we just might do it again sometime soon. In the meantime, impress your friends with the fascinating fun facts about teeth at your next recess break! While we’re on the topic of teeth, we would be remiss if we didn’t end the way we always do, with our gentle reminder (we are the gentle dentist after all) “Don’t forget to be a BFF with your mouth and brush that smile!”
