Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Published November 7, 2018 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society)
Mammals are unique in that their teeth are not fused to the jaws, but held in place by a ligament. This ligament suspends the tooth in place and cushions against the forces of chewing. When researchers examined the teeth and jaws of mammals’ extinct synapsid relatives, they found that our teeth are not as unusual as we once thought.
Lead author: Aaron LeBlanc, University of Alberta and University of Toronto – arl@ualberta.ca
