On the Separation Mechanism between a Shark’s Tooth and Its Jaw Base

Feeding is the likely cause for tooth shedding in sharks. Although the overall process of loosing teeth has been well studied, hardly any emphasis has been given to the actual separation mechanism between a shark’s tooth base and the surrounding jaw tissue. Attention is given to this very process, in connection to a never before videotaped tooth loss of a white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, that occurred within 0.3 seconds. Since the shark did not bite into anything prior to this observation, the cause for this tooth loss does not seem feeding but fatigue related, triggered through a combination of mechanical and potentially biochemical degradation processes.

Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 2018, 8, 329-334.