蜜芽传媒

CrowdScience listener Jonathan started wondering how our teeth are made while he was in the dentist鈥檚 chair. It took his mind off the drilling. He wants to know what they鈥檙e made of and why we only get two sets of teeth when other animals, like sharks, grow thousands of new ones throughout their lives.

Anand Jagatia goes back to prehistoric times, discovering that the story of teeth began millions of years ago. Palaeontologist Yara Haridy explains that teeth didn鈥檛 actually grow in our mouths to start with, but on the exoskeletons of fish. Teeth are part of our evolutionary success story - biological anthropologist Peter Ungar reveals that they allowed us to survive and flourish because of the variety of foods we were able to chew for energy.

Anand even discovers how teeth can be grown in a lab when he meets Ana Angelova Volponi. Her team have managed to replicate the environment in which teeth develop - a whole new way of creating teeth that could change dentistry forever.