Handedness and Dental Wear

Back in 1950, Dr. Nishijima of Osaka University claimed that dentists could tell whether a person was right or left handed just by looking at their teeth — due to differential wear patterns from brushing.

His claim sounds logical enough to me, but more recent research doesn't seem to support it. According to a Dec 2010 article in the Journal of Dental Sciences: "no statistically significant relationship was found between hand preference and tooth-brushing abrasion in this study."

Melbourne Sun News-Pictorial - Jan 21, 1950

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 28, 2024
Category: Teeth

Comments

This is not so much weird as actually scientifically interesting. Because yes, Dr. Nishijima's claim does sound quite plausible at first; but also yes, it does need to be checked experimentally. Nullius in verba!

Posted by Richard Bos on 12/28/24 at 04:32 PM