Overbite

Squeaky the Squirrel

How Forks Gave Us Overbites and Pots Saved the Toothless

I was struck while reading your book by how changes in the instruments we use to cook and eat can have large-scale health implications. It's especially fascinating that overbites didn't become standard until we all started eating with a knife and fork. Can you describe how that happened?

Yes, I found to be this one of the most fascinating and surprising changes to be brought about by kitchen utensils.
Until around 250 years ago in the West, archaeological evidence suggests that most human beings had an edge-to-edge bite, similar to apes. In other words, our teeth were aligned liked a guillotine, with the top layer clashing against the bottom layer. Then, quite suddenly, this alignment of the jaw changed: We developed an overbite, which is still normal today. The top layer of teeth fits over the bottom layer like a lid on a box.


This change is far too recent for any evolutionary explanation. Rather, it seems to be a question of usage. An American anthropologist, C. Loring Brace, put forward the thesis that the overbite results from the way we use cutlery, from childhood onwards.

Capt'n Midnight

The clincher is that the change is seen 900 years earlier in China, the reason being chopsticks.

Interesting all right