Wounded tooth?

[Dino Dad 81]

Hey all,

Do you think it's safe to say that this fella went mouth-to-mouth with a contemporary (antemortem) and got the other's serrations stamped on the tip of his front tooth?

 

In this first pic, it almost looks like the tooth got raked against another's serrations, starting or ending with the point of significant imprint.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Dino Dad 81

[hadrosauridae]

No, its more likely caused by disease or deformation.  Dino teeth would have been similar to modern animal teeth.  Very hard, but brittle.  Any force strong enough to damage it would have caused it to break, not become dented.  

[Troodon]

Very hard to evaluate isolated teeth but I do agree it's antemortem and more likely to be caused by other factors mentioned by hadrosauridae and may even be a result of pressure by an opposing dentary tooth.   Nice feature.

[Dino Dad 81]

Thanks, both.

 

I figured that, if it were from contact with another animal, it wouldn't have originally looked so smooth and neat, but that over time and use a much more fractured looking trauma wore smoothly and only the deepest parts remained not so smoothed.

 

Have you ever seen disease or deformation cause a mark like this that seems so organized and intricate? Do you lean towards it being an opposing tooth over disease/deformation? That seems like the most plausible explanation, but I have no experience with this stuff.

 

Thanks again.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Dino Dad 81

[Troodon]

It's all speculation but I would lean more toward pathological changes caused by disease, infection, nutrition that has been extensively seen on tyrannosaurids.   Just can be a one off growth defect in the tooth.   The dentin and enamel of a Tyrannosaurus is one of the thickest of all theropods.

 

Yes I've see pathological teeth

[Dino Dad 81]

Thanks for the back and forth so I could learn as much as possible!