Sink Your Teeth Into This...

Last week, a man named Conrad Feasel was arrested for biting his 3yr old daughter on the arm—2yrs ago. It was said that the bite was intended to teach his daughter a lesson, but investigators say it was a hard enough bite that the girl needed medical treatment. And why did it take 2yrs for the arrest?—Officials say it was due to a backlog at the police department, and the father had since moved.

As cooky as this story may seem, it actually reminded me of my own childhood-- I remember my younger sister going through a ‘biting phase’. Only separated by two years, I recall one evening I upset her, causing her to bite an arm-- just like Mr. Feasel; however, in this case, she didn’t bite my arm…she bit her own…then blamed it on me!!! Being the middle child I am, I pled my case to my mother explaining how I wouldn’t do such a thing, how my little sister was such a liar, and of course, how I get blamed for everything. The jury came back GUILTY. So I was sent to bed as my sister sat with a smirk on her face.

Fortunately, the story doesn’t end there. It wasn’t long before my mother entered my bedroom with an apology, accompanied by my sister...now wearing a frown. Apparently my futile attempt at pleading my case actually worked. I found out that my mother began a little “discovery” of her own and began looking at teeth marks. Fortunately, these incriminating marks left a deep enough wound for the evidence to remain in existence long enough for the truth to be revealed.

Most people have never measured the amount of force used when biting, so the following numbers may seem a little surreal. Adults with their natural teeth can bite with ~200 lbs of force. Young children, with their primary teeth, can bite with ~50 lbs of force or less. As a child’s permanent teeth erupt, their biting force increases. These biting forces allow us to not only chew our food, but to chew our food well. Those that do not have a full complement of teeth (denture wearers) can only bite with ~50 lbs of force, and those that have been wearing dentures for more than 15yrs can only bite with ~6 lbs of force.

Basically, the more teeth you have, the stronger you can bite, the more you can chew your food, and the longer you will live—(denture wearers have a 10yr shorter life span).
The circle of life takes us from childhood to adulthood, then back to childhood again as our body wears out & ages…but your teeth only wear out because of poor habits or trauma. They can stay in adulthood with proper care and at least 2 annual visits to your dentist.

So the next time you want to bite your child to teach them a lesson (and if you haven’t done it already, I know it’s crossed your mind), remember the power of your adult teeth…and the power of the law.