After watching Jaws sequels most filmy buffs had dreams of the Shark teeth with which it gnaws its victims. However a recent research proves that the mammal's teeth are no better than ours. But ofcourse there is a difference, Sharks continually shed their teeth, and some Carcharhiniformes shed approximately 35,000 teeth in a lifetime.
They found that despite the teeth of the top ocean predator being coated with super-tough enamel, they are no stronger than the teeth found in human beings.
"This is due to the special micro and nanostructure of our teeth," the Daily Mail quoted lead researcher Professor Matthias Epple, from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, as saying.
"The crystals in human teeth have a special arrangement and they are 'glued together' by proteins which stop cracks from running through the whole tooth," he said.
The research, published in the Journal of Structural Biology narrtaes that the predators teeth have an interior of elastic dentin and an outer layer of hard enamel toughened by the fluorine-based mineral fluoroapatite. On the contrary our teeth enamel is softer, consisting of the mineral hydroxyapatite, which is also present in bones. However due the structure of human teeth, their overall strength was on a par with that of the shark, the scientists found. (With inputs from internet-AW AarKay)
