I was curious about how our adult teeth form and replace our baby teeth. I know they form in our gums but how do they get pushed up? Do the gums push the tooth after it’s fully developed or do the roots push it as it grows?
Secondly how do our teeth “know” where to form? As generally our teeth come in with a relatively similar pattern as humans.
Lastly how does this apply to wisdom teeth?
Do they form similarly to our other molars and why do they come in during our late-ish teens to early twenties and not with the rest of our permanent teeth?
In: Biology
There are a lot of theories actually about what prompts the eruption of teeth. Some think the development of the roots are what pushes them up, but since teeth erupt before their roots are fully formed this likely isn’t the reason. Other theories suggest that the cells near the apex of the primary teeth send signals for the permanent to start the process or that the resorption of the bone separating both sets of teeth makes the permanent naturally drift up. No theory is confirmed as far as i know and it’s likely a combination of factors.
As far as why they are placed the way they are it’s just genetically encoded as is everything else in the human body. You can get variations like missing or extra teeth or switching of places sometimes, but it’s rare.
Wisdom teeth just start forming later in life and also evolutionary they are probably going to be discarded from the dentition as the facial parts of our skull gets smaller.
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