Why Are Teeth Not Considered Bones?
Teeth and bones are both hard, white and heavy with calcium, but that doesn't make them one and the same. From the way they look to how they heal, teeth are quite different from the body's bones.
Transcript
00:00 Why are teeth not considered bones? Picture a skull. It has teeth, doesn't it?
00:06 So why are teeth not considered bones? Teeth and bones are both hard, white, and
00:13 packed with calcium, but that doesn't make them one in the same. For one, teeth
00:17 are mostly made of minerals. Bones, on the other hand, do have many minerals but
00:23 mainly consist of a protein called collagen. Collagen is a living, growing
00:28 tissue that makes bones strong and flexible, but it doesn't make them as
00:32 strong as teeth. Teeth are the hardest part of the human body, thanks to a
00:37 calcified tissue called dentine. Dentine is covered with another material called
00:42 enamel, which gives teeth their hard, shiny surface, your pearly whites. Still,
00:48 bones have at least one advantage over teeth, even if they are weaker. They can
00:53 regenerate. That means that if you break a bone, it can heal. But crack or chip a
00:58 tooth and you're in for some dental work. Another difference between teeth and
01:02 bones? Bone marrow. This spongy concoction inside your bones is responsible for
01:08 producing blood cells, something the inside of your teeth definitely cannot
01:13 do. And even though the inside of a tooth may look like marrow, it actually
01:18 contains something called dental pulp. This living portion of each tooth
01:23 contains nerves and blood vessels. It's those nerves that are responsible for
01:28 the pain of a toothache or cavity. Teeth and bones, just another one of life's
01:33 little mysteries.