Why dont animals( especially long living ones like elephants) suffer from tooth decay?

Question

I heard toothpaste works by replacing the hydroxyapatite in tooth enamel with flourapatite which is less susceptible to acid attacks.so why dont animals suffer from the same problem as they dont normally use toothpaste?

Answer 1

I think some of it is superior diet like others have said, but...

I think the main thing is, they're out in the wild...meaning that if the tooth decay that does occasionally happen gets too severe (think abcesses, which were a leading cause of mortality among the dentist-free ancient Egyptians, it was a common way for pharoahs and their court members to die according to the archeologists), the animals either lose teeth and stop eating, or they just *die* from the infection and stop eating.

So I'm not saying tooth decay doesn't happen, ok? It likely does. But out in the wild, even a minor problem with *one* tooth gets to be *fatal* quickly if infection sets in.

And of course, you do realize that elephants (and a few other large herbivores like hippos and rhinos) have a bit of an advantage over us. They can grow in new molars if need be. Elephants especially are *constantly* growing in new molar teeth back to front, with the front-most (and most worn) teeth constantly being spat out.

Let me find a link for you to back this up, be right back. :)

Answer 2

Most animals dont have problems with tooth decay. Animals in the wild eat natural vegetation that is not hard on the teeth and it has fiber that cleans the teeth. Mother Nature provides natural tooth cleaners (like grass, bamboo, plants) that help animals keep teeth from decay. There is not sugar and processed foods in the wild.
And if an animal gets a decayed tooth, it will work its way out. The tooth falls out before there is a problem and the animal can help work it out. Animals are fine will one or two teeth gone as Mother Nature gave them many for their lifetime.

However, we do need to worry about the teeth of animals who are pets. By eatting a diet that is not natural, our pets suffer tooth decay.

Answer 3

I think the problem is the amount of sugar in the diet now. I read an article in a Nat'l Geographic magazine in which they were extricating a Roman village and the skeletons had perfect teeth.

They figured it was from the lack of sugar in the diet.

So, the answer is that Elephants and other animals are not eating ice cream, candy, pastries, etc.

Answer 4

Some animals do ... mostly domestic animals though like cats and dogs. My vet's office has a whole separate dental clinic for pets where they clean the teeth and take care of any dental problems. Most of the time, wild animals eat the diets they are meant to eat. That's what they are designed to eat. My cat went through a period of about a year where he had lots of urinary tract infections and kidney problems. I had several discussions with the vet about his diet and what should I try next. Finally, the vet one day told me that when she was in vet school, one of her professors said that the perfect food for a cat is a mouse. It's nutritionally perfect for cats and is the fuel a cat's body is really designed for. It's when we start messing with their diets by giving them commercially processed foods (and badly processed at that) that it throws off the natural balance of their bodies and invites the same breakdowns we humans suffer from our own poor diets.

Answer 5

their diets dont support the growth of the bacteria ours do, but they do have this problem, sometimes fatally. Carnivores do have it more.

Answer 6

animals eat natural foods and have natural cleaning mechanisms unlike us who eat sweets and junk foods .

Answer 7

How do you know they don't? Do you examine elephants teeth throughout their lifetime?

Answer 8

Because of their diet.