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.
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00Why are teeth not considered bones? Picture a skull. It has teeth, doesn't it?
00:07So why are teeth not considered bones? Teeth and bones are both hard, white, and
00:12packed with calcium, but that doesn't make them one in the same. For one, teeth
00:18are mostly made of minerals. Bones, on the other hand, do have many minerals, but
00:23mainly consist of a protein called collagen. Collagen is a living, growing
00:28tissue that makes bones strong and flexible, but it doesn't make them as
00:32strong as teeth. Teeth are the hardest part of the human body, thanks to a
00:37calcified tissue called dentine. Dentine is covered with another material called
00:42enamel, which gives teeth their hard, shiny surface, your pearly whites. Still, bones
00:49have at least one advantage over teeth, even if they are weaker. They can
00:53regenerate. That means that if you break a bone, it can heal, but crack or
00:58chip a tooth and you're in for some dental work. Another difference between
01:02teeth and bones? Bone marrow. This spongy concoction inside your bones is
01:08responsible for producing blood cells, something the inside of your teeth
01:12definitely cannot do. And even though the inside of a tooth may look like marrow, it
01:18actually contains something called dental pulp. This living portion of each tooth
01:23contains nerves and blood vessels. It's those nerves that are responsible for the
01:28pain of a toothache or cavity. Teeth and bones, just another one of life's little
01:33mysteries.