A few days ago, I went to the hospital to have my wisdom tooth pulled out, which had been tormenting me for weeks. The wisdom tooth was not only inflamed and painful, but also swelled up half of my face, which was really uncomfortable.
As a result, when I got home, my husband felt distressed about the cost of wisdom teeth extraction, and asked me, why only I have wisdom teeth and he doesn’t? Sounds like it’s my fault for having wisdom teeth, which is so annoying.
However, perhaps most people have this question: the same “evolution”, why some people suffer from wisdom teeth, and some people don’t grow wisdom teeth?
In fact, in the process of human evolution, affected by various factors such as environment and genes, some people’s organs will completely degenerate, while some people will retain some degenerated organs. trace. Since these functions are no longer needed for modern humans, these organs that are no longer needed but still remain on the human body are called “trace organs”.
In addition to wisdom teeth, there are other ancestral “data packages” in our bodies, such as ear muscles and tails that have basically disappeared in evolution, look for them, you may have these three kind of traces?
Evolutionary Legacy Teeth – Wisdom Teeth
Starting from the front teeth, the eighth one is the wisdom tooth. It is located at the very end of the alveolar bone. Medically, it is called the third molar, the root-extending tooth or the impacted tooth. tooth.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
The last 4 big teeth on the upper, lower, left and right sides often appear during a person’s adolescence, some people grow around the age of 25 or 30, and some people are in their 40s and 50s only long.
Under normal circumstances, all 4 wisdom teeth will grow, but some people only grow 1, 2 or 3. Of course, there are also a small number of people who do not grow wisdom teeth in their entire lives.
Most people’s wisdom teeth don’t grow so quickly!
In the process of human evolution, the degeneration of the jaws has shrunk, and the alveolar bones have decreased in size and strength to varying degrees, while the size and number of teeth have not Reduced, so that the wisdom teeth that grow at the very end of the alveolar bone do not have enough space for growth, coupled with the obstruction of adjacent teeth and soft tissues, so they can only grow in other directions, often crooked, and some can only be buried in the jaw Inside the bones, some are half-long and no longer grow.
In ancient times, wisdom teeth were very useful, and ancient humans relied on them to bite into difficult flesh. But nowadays, wisdom teeth are like “abandoned sons” on the road of human evolution, and basically do not play a positive role.
If they grow in a good position, don’t hurt, don’t swell, and don’t interfere with other teeth work, then please let them live. If they are like a naughty child, they will always cause trouble if they do not develop well, causing a series of oral problems, such as irregular dentition, pericoronitis of wisdom teeth, dental caries, periodontitis, periodontal abscess, etc. The orthodontic needs are affected by the wisdom teeth, and they can be considered for extraction.
The fused tail – coccyx
Each of us has several vertebrae fused together at the end of our spine, commonly known as the coccyx. It is under our back, it is raised and can be felt with the hand.
The coccyx is the remnant of the human tail after evolution. When the first human ancestors lived in trees, the tail played a big role in maintaining balance and moving in the tree.
When humans learned to walk upright, the function of the tail gradually disappeared, but became more and more in the way. Slowly, under the squeeze of the tail vertebra, the tail lost its nutrients supply, gradually shrinking and deteriorating.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
In fact, we still retain the memory of our ancestors in the early embryonic stage, and we will still grow tails. The embryonic tail generally appears after the 5th to 8th week of pregnancy. As the embryo grows, the tail will be reabsorbed by the fetal body and fused together to form the coccyx.
In extremely rare cases, because the embryo is not properly stimulated during fetal life, some people have incomplete tail regression and are born with a small tail a few centimeters long. Just like monkeys.
Small tails can often retract, move, and are more common in males than females. In this case, surgical excision can be performed after birth.
The left coccyx is mainly responsible for connecting several muscles around our anus, and it is also the fulcrum of a series of ligaments. Without it, our movements of contracting the anus will be affected, and internal organs may also appear. Problems with sagging organs or abnormal curvature of the spine.
Auricular muscle that almost disappeared – Darwin’s tubercle
A careful examination of our ears may reveal a small, thick, pointed protrusion on the inner side of the upper part of the ear, which was discovered by Charles Darwin, hence the name ” Darwin’s nodule or Darwin’s point” nickname, also known as “little ear tip”.
According to statistics, about 40% of Indian adults, 10% of Spanish adults, 60% of Swedish school-age children have such small protrusions[1], of course, some Chinese also have them.
(Image credit: Colleague’s Ear)
This little bump, which is mostly made of cartilage and a layer of skin over it, used to help the ears of our ancestors move back and forth like satellites pick up signals, and also Repel mosquitoes and flies, and gather sounds from a distance.
But now, people with this small protrusion may only retain the function of “swinging their ears”, and the functions of “radar” and repelling mosquitoes and flies have basically been lost.
Darwin’s nodules can appear on one ear or on both ears, and have different morphological features, making each individual unique[2][3].
I believe that after reading this article, you must have licked your teeth, raised your anus, looked at your ears in the mirror, and looked at the ears of those around you.
The evolution of the human body is so wonderful, we will take you to learn more about the mysteries of the human body when there is a chance in the future.
Reviewer: A Section Ginger| Research Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Experimental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
References
[1] Tiffany Y. Loh, Philip R. Cohen. Darwin’s Tubercle: Review of a Unique Congenital Anomaly[J]. Dermatology and Therapy,2016,6(2).
[2] Purkait R, Priyanka S. A test of individuality of human external ear pattern:its application in the field of personal identification. Forensci Sci Int.2008;178:112-118.
[3] Chattopadhyay PK, Bhatia S. Morphological examination of ear: a study of an Indian population. Leg Med(Tokyo) 2009;Suppl 1:S190-193.
*The pictures in this article are from Zhanku Hailuo unless otherwise noted.
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