A vietnamese man, 95, sprouts new set of teeth.

September 10, 2001 12:41 PM

A vietnamese man, 95, sprouts new set of teeth. Are our bodies starting to adjust to longer life spans by replacing lost bits? Maybe we are developing redundant systems, like Klingons.
posted by o2b (24 comments total)

the thought that comes to mind is:


do you live close to a nuclear waste plant?
posted by chrisroberts at 1:15 PM on September 10, 2001

LOL.
posted by glenwood at 1:25 PM on September 10, 2001

Ok see now that is funny. What Chris said.
posted by glenwood at 1:25 PM on September 10, 2001

wait, not to be too geeky here, but i thought it was vulcans, not klingons who had redundant physical systems...

clarification?
posted by elsar at 1:27 PM on September 10, 2001

sorry to double post, but this sounds like a question for our own Wil Wheaton!
posted by elsar at 1:29 PM on September 10, 2001

I think its evolution at work here. Humans are living longer and longer now and our body are compensating and adapting.
posted by Qambient at 1:31 PM on September 10, 2001

Klingons have three testicles. Now that's redundancy.
posted by kindall at 1:33 PM on September 10, 2001

I think its evolution at work here. Humans are living longer and longer now and our body are compensating and adapting.

That's not really how it works. The species doesn't really "adapt". It's just random natural genetic mutation. I would bet that one in every, say, hundred million humans grows a third set of teeth in their 90s. (Most people don't live that long. Others who do don't realize it's happening. etc.) Another one in every hundred million is born with eleven fingers, or a conjoined twin, or really really bad gas.

If it turned out that such a mutation were beneficial to the individual's survival (if humans began living well into their 100s, and having a 3rd set of teeth became a real advantage), natural selection would kick in. That would be a sign of evolution.
posted by jpoulos at 1:42 PM on September 10, 2001

I was under the impression that while not common, some people do have more than one set of adult teeth? Any dentists out there?
posted by Doug at 1:53 PM on September 10, 2001

Natural selection would kick in if a lot of 100 year olds were breeding. It's possible (for men), but I doubt it happens very often. You know unless your Tony Randel or something.
posted by willnot at 1:55 PM on September 10, 2001

Humans haven't been living longer long enough to say this is evolution. Evolution doesn't occur over a 150 years.

My guess...freak of nature. It happens.
posted by Mark at 1:59 PM on September 10, 2001

Evolution by natural selection only works if you have kids after the selection has been done. So this guy would not only have to show he was fitter by out-living his fellow 90-year-olds but subsequently have some offspring. I have a feeling that being able to reproduce at 110 might have more survival value than having teeth.
posted by skyscraper at 2:00 PM on September 10, 2001

oops, what willnot said.
posted by skyscraper at 2:01 PM on September 10, 2001

elsar: remember in ST:TNG when a big barrel fell on Worf's back and broke his spine? He spent most of the epidose on crutches but decided to undergo a risky operation to fix it. The operation failed, but his redundant nervous system kicked in and saved Brian Bonsall from the torture of having Deanna Troi as a mother.

i've never heard of Vulcans having redundant systems, but that doesn't mean much.
posted by o2b at 2:19 PM on September 10, 2001

skallas, I have a feeling selection and evolution is still taking place. There've been quite a few discussions here about the social pressures of modern society leading to antisocial behaviour (especially including suicide). Those that can take it get to have babies.
posted by skyscraper at 2:26 PM on September 10, 2001

he wouldn't have to have children after his third set of teeth grew in. he may have already passed the mutation on to the children he fathered while in his 20s (or 30s or whatever). he's probably carried the genes from birth, unless he actually does live near a nuclear waste plant, in which case, if he can even get it up, he's probably sterile anyway.
posted by tolkhan at 2:33 PM on September 10, 2001

truthfully, i expect the human of the distant tomorrow to be hybrid of all races. because breeding does occur between races, and that can only become more frequent as time goes by.
posted by o2b at 3:20 PM on September 10, 2001

skallas, I see what you're saying, but I still believe that there are pressures, physical and mental, that find a genetically-linked vulnerability and make it less likely for the person to have kids. Vulnerability, mind you, not inferiority - there are plenty of examples of gentic strengths becoming weaknesses as the environment changes.

Granted also that these genetic pressures are probably overwhelmed by environmental forces - I believe there's a really strong inverse link between per capita GDP and number of children.
posted by skyscraper at 3:34 PM on September 10, 2001

skallas - As long as there's even the slightest selective pressure in favor of a trait, evolution will do its work when given enough time. Are there traits that make people even the slightest bit more likely to breed successfully in today's world? I think so. Just because some of the more immediate risks to survival have been reduced doesn't mean that there's no longer any selection going on in any direction.

More obviously--as long as there are people dying in childhood because of inherited traits, evolution is still going on.
posted by moss at 3:39 PM on September 10, 2001

he may have already passed the mutation on to the children he fathered while in his 20s (or 30s or whatever).

Of course, but so did all those other people who don't have that mutation. The only way for the mutation to propagate is for mutated individual to be more able to pass it along than anyone else.
posted by jpoulos at 3:40 PM on September 10, 2001

a genetic fluke

I think so, too. My little brother has had a couple individual teeth knocked out, and they've all grown back. Freaky, and I can pretty much guarantee you he ain't evolving. If anything, he's headed the other direction. But teeth like a shark, no kidding. Not a whole set, just one here and there, but in some cases I know he's knocked the same ones out twice or more, and they've always grown back.
posted by UncleFes at 9:26 PM on September 10, 2001

I think we should do a random sampling of the population to see how far this mutation has spread.

Who's ready to have their teeth knocked out in the name of science?
posted by Neale at 10:37 PM on September 10, 2001

If you can grow two sets of teeth, eventually someone will figure out how to start a third set with something simple, maybe injections to trick your body into thinking it's time to lose the baby teeth and replace them.

And then we'll have lots of people growing new teeth instead of getting caps and so on. Thirty-something people who are tired of cavities will suddenly start losing teeth at lunch because they're getting a third set. Just as Halloween has become a party night for adults, the tooth fairy will somehow be co-opted by infantile, vain people made to feel truly infantile by growing new teeth and trying to feel good about being temporarily semi-gummy.

What, me worry?
posted by pracowity at 11:28 PM on September 10, 2001

I read a while back about a gene therapy that had been used to grow new teeth in rats. They were talking about testing on Humans as soon as 2005, and it sounded as if they could grow anyone new teeth just by using a cream on the gums. I thought it was bunk at the time, but I've come across it twice since, though always hearsay, never in verifiable form.
posted by Nothing at 5:50 AM on September 11, 2001