# How do animals keep their teeth?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-animals-keep-their-teeth/724329>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 5, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-animals-keep-their-teeth/724329 "2015-07-05T17:52:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-animals-keep-their-teeth/724329/21 "2015-07-06T11:08:36Z")

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> [@astro](#):
>
> They don’t. Losing teeth is a significant contributory cause of death in older wild animals that depend on their teeth .

+1

Applies equally with domesticated species.  
e.g. sheep are born with their 8 milk teeth. 2 of these are replaced with permanents each year until aged approx 4. Depending on the grazing conditions, but typically before 8yo the teeth begin to break/wear at which point at animal usually loses condition. Broken mouthed sheep either culled. Alternatively they’d starve even if there is sufficient feed for stock with full mouths to thrive. Not many range land sheep live more than 10 years.

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-animals-keep-their-teeth/724329/22 "2015-07-06T11:27:12Z")

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Elephants get 6 sets of teeth in their lifetime. When the final set wears out/falls out that’s it, the animal starves to death.

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-animals-keep-their-teeth/724329/23 "2015-07-06T13:29:08Z")

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George Washington had at least one complete set of wooden dentures, so he must have lost all his teeth along the way. I once saw them in a vault at the NY Academy of Medicine.

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**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-animals-keep-their-teeth/724329/24 "2015-07-06T13:59:43Z")

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> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> George Washington had at least one complete set of wooden dentures, so he must have lost all his teeth along the way. I once saw them in a vault at the NY Academy of Medicine.

Ivory, not wood. Wet wood doesn’t maintain strength or shape.

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**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-animals-keep-their-teeth/724329/25 "2015-07-06T16:24:55Z")

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> [@astro](#):
>
> Losing teeth is a significant contributory cause of death in older wild animals that depend on their teeth .

Cite?

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-animals-keep-their-teeth/724329/26 "2015-07-06T18:26:51Z")

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Elephants, as noted above.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-animals-keep-their-teeth/724329/27 "2015-07-06T19:03:59Z")

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> [@Surreal](#):
>
> Cite?

[Why most koalas die of starvation?](http://koalainfo.com/most-koalas-die-of-starvation)

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