WiregrassSeniorsMagazine . com Page 25
Hello Readers ,
Ask Dr . Gaunt
“ Your Hometown Dentist ”
I hope you are enjoying our relatively warm winter . Before long we ’ ll be hitting the beach and enjoying the surf . As always , we ’ ll be mindful of the possible presence of sharks , which are fairly common in our Gulf . One of my favorite things I ’ ve done since living here the past 14 years is a day trip we took with friends to a creek in Haleburg . While Haleburg is not near the ocean , we found many shark teeth ! I learned with a little research that in the Earth ’ s Cenozoic Period , most of Alabama was covered by the ocean ! Well , I don ’ t know about an Earth that is 70 million-years-old , but I saw firsthand that sharks have indeed lived where we do now ! And depending on the species of shark , they can have at least five rows of teeth at one time , with Bull sharks having 50 ! These teeth rotate forward as teeth are lost as if on a conveyor belt . Sharks also lose at least one tooth a week , which would help us understand the thousands of teeth we can find on our creek banks today . You should be used to me finding dental meaning in an obscure topic by now , but this came to mind after several of my older patients have come in with “ new ” teeth . YES ! After many years wearing a partial or denture , they are convinced that they are witnessing the miracle of the third set of human teeth ! I always regret to have to inform them that , unlike sharks , we have only two sets , and what they are seeing is the delayed eruption of an embedded tooth , or a root tip that couldn ’ t be extracted has now come to the surface . Have a great spring ; if you have an opportunity to explore one of these creeks , do so . It is pretty amazing !
To your Health and Happiness ,
Geoff Gaunt , DMD dothancosmeticdentistry . com 334-673-7440