Weird Dental Facts
Exploring the Quirky and Curious World of Dentistry
We’ve collected the most bizarre, surprising, and downright strange stories from the world of dentistry. These weird dental facts will make you think twice the next time you pick up your toothbrush — and maybe even laugh a little.
Real vampire teeth aren’t just the stuff of myths — they’re a rare dental phenomenon with real-world causes. Uncover the condition behind fang-like canines and the vampire legends they may have inspired. It’s one of our most talked-about posts!
Just click on the IMAGE to see more!
From the truth behind real vampire teeth to strange saliva tricks and ancient toothpaste trivia, these Weird Dental Facts uncover the curious side of oral health — with stories you won’t find in most textbooks.
Ouch!
For 25% of children, their first visit to the emergency ward in hospitals is due to a dental emergency.
Speed Racer
A sneeze zooms out of your mouth at over 600 mph! (Who times these things?!)
Sounds Reasonable
Some common remedies for a toothache from ancient times included boiling earthworms in oil, and then using that oil to put drops in your ear. In order to make loose teeth firm, it was recommended that you tie a frog to your jaw.
The Big Gulp
A person swallows 25 times per hour while awake and 10 times per hour while sleeping, for a total of 480 times each day. Source: Graf H. Bruxism. Dent Clin North Am. 1969;13:659-665.
Most Trusted Profession?
Dentists were ranked third among the most trusted professionals in 1995 but slipped to ninth in 2001. According to Gallup Poll rankings, they managed climbed back up to rank sixth in 2009. Still making the top ten! A 1997 Reader's Digest article may have done the most...
Time Well Spent
The average person spends roughly 38.5 days over their lifetime brushing their teeth. Does that sound like a lot? Well, if you consider that for a person who lives 75 years, about 25 years of them are spent sleeping -- maybe not so much!
DON’T Try This at Home
An Englishwoman who was terrified of dentists used SUPERGLUE to stick teeth back in her mouth for TEN YEARS. -- Angie Barlow, 48, became scared of dentists after her mother's throat cancer was discovered at a visit to have a tooth removed. -- For more than 10 yeasrs,...
Wise Move?
A Canadian man proposed to his girlfriend with a ring made from his wisdom tooth. A toothbrush may be all that a Carlee Leifkes needs to clean her engagement ring, because in lieu of a diamond, her engagement ring featured her husband-to-be's tooth. Some girls who...
That Could Take A Lot of Filling Material!
An elephant's tooth can weigh over six pounds. A tusk from an adult male elephant, on the other hand, can weigh anywhere from 100 to 175 pounds. The heaviest tusk ever recorded weighed in at 220 pounds! Fortunately, because elephants generally stick to their natural...
These weird dental facts are just the beginning. Keep checking back as we uncover even more strange, funny, and fascinating discoveries from the dental world.
Want to explore more about oral health from a trusted source? Visit the American Dental Association’s research section.
