The Megalodon, the largest shark to have ever roamed the Earth’s oceans, had a unique mouth that featured a “revolving jaw” and fluoride-based tooth enamel which functioned like “built-in toothpaste,” claims new research published in the journal RSC Advances.
Unlike modern sharks, which only have fluoride on the surface of their teeth, the massive Megalodon had teeth containing a high concentration of fluoride, senior author Matthias Epple, a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen’s Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, explained in an interview with Discovery News on Friday.
The find demonstrates that the creature, which grew to sizes of up to 66 feet long, had teeth that were unlike any other living animal. In addition to having what Epple called “built-in toothpaste” due to the fluoride content of its teeth, the creature had a “revolving jaw” like modern-day sharks that enabled it to replace teeth that were left behind in prey or otherwise lost.
The creature’s teeth were approximately eight inches long, which according to the researchers is far bigger than those found in any species of modern shark. As part of their research, Epple’s team compared the Megalodon’s teeth with those of five other extinct sharks, three living sharks, two types of extinct marine mammals, and a pair of large carnivorous dinosaurs.
Megalodon tooth material was hard, decay resistant
According to Discovery News, their analysis focused on the microstructure and the chemical make-up of the teeth from each of these creatures. The study authors discovered that the now-extinct shark species and some species of dinosaurs had fluoride inside of the dentin (or interior portion) of their teeth.
It was only a few million years ago that sharks evolved teeth which only had fluorapatite (the mineral associated with the compound fluoride) on the surface enamel and dentin made up of primarily hydroxyapatite, the same substance that makes up most of human tooth enamel. The reasons for this change are unclear, but Epple and his colleagues believe that fluorapatite could have been far more common in the ancient past than it is in the modern era.
Epple told the website that fluoride “is not very common in seawater” these days, which means that it is “difficult for animals to collect fluoride, especially for a revolving jaw in sharks where the teeth are replaced every few weeks or months.” Since fluorapatite is more resistant to decay and harder than hydroxyapatite, it could mean that prehistoric creatures such as the Megalodon had stronger, sturdier teeth than any living being found on the planet today.
While fluorapatite releases damaging hydrofluoric acid when it comes into contact with acidic fruit and other consumables found on land, Epple told Discovery News that it is doubtful that the Megalodon dealt with much tooth decay – largely because they rarely if ever ate fruit.
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(Image credit: Thinkstock)
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