I guess I can sort of understand the process with baby teeth that get pushed out by the adult teeth below. But what about adult and wisdom teeth? What is the mechanism behind it? Do the muscles in the jaw contract and release until it erupts?
In: Biology
There are a bunch of theories on tooth eruption, leading which is the Periodontal ligament traction theory. Some background, human teeth don’t just sit in the bone, they’re actually surrounded by fibers called the periodontal ligament which act like a suspension bridge, holding the teeth within the bone.
The leading theory for how the teeth move upwards is that these fibers, (as the tooth and the fibers form) act as a sling which propel the teeth upwards and into their “final” position.
Another interesting fact is that teeth don’t actually ever stop being “pushed” upwards, they’re merely held in place due to opposing force from the antagonistic tooth. This is evidenced by the fact that if you remove a tooth, the tooth opposing it will keep moving upwards until eventually coming so far out of the bone that it needs to be removed.
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