Evolution's Bite: Teeth, Diet + The Last Foragers Of Africa / Peter Ungar
The guest on this episode answers the question: Why do we tend to have so many issues with our teeth and jaws? How many of us have had teeth pulled, such as our wisdom teeth, and have had braces that align our crooked teeth? If we look at other mammals, we don't see these issues at all. We can even look to our closest relatives, the chimp and the bonobo, and we see that there are very few issues that arise in the development of their teeth and jaws.
To figure this out, I spoke with Professor Peter Ungar, paleoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist, and author of Evolution's Bite: A Story of Teeth, Diet, and Human Origins. Peter has spent years studying the Hadza of Tanzania, the last traditional small band foragers in Africa. He has spent most of his career studying the remains and diets of our prehistoric ancestors. It turns out our diets play a significant role in how our jaws develop, and as a result, how our teeth grow in. There are evolutionary reasons why our jaws develop the way they do.
Bio:
Peter S. Ungar is Distinguished Professor and director of the Environmental Dynamics Program at the University of Arkansas. He is the author of Teeth: A Very Short Introduction and Mammal Teeth: Origin, Evolution, and Diversity and the editor of Evolution of the Human Diet: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable. He lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Episode Notes:
Pick up a copy of Evolution's Bite: A Story of Teeth, Diet, and Human Origins from Princeton University Press
Check out Peter's interview in The Atlantic
You can find out more about Peter Ungar's work here
Follow Peter on Twitter @petersungar
