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Tooth And Bone Pathologies


Harry Pristis

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From my favorite stream in Greenville, North Carolina. If this tooth was straight it would be really close to the magic 3 inch mark.

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Awesome tooth!

Thanks. When I found it the blade was buried and the root lobes were pointed straight up. I expected a very large tooth and when I pulled it out of the muck I thought it was broken. The vis was really bad and I just chucked it in my bag. I was really surprised when I emptied the bag in my boat and found a melted tooth.

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...I was really surprised when I emptied the bag in my boat and found a melted tooth.

Name it "Salvador" (Dali).

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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  • 1 month later...

armadillo_osteoderms.patho.JPG.4c706dd590d8f260ab384f2390a7dcbc.JPGHere's another bone pathology -- an osteoderm from a giant armadillo from the Pleistocene of Florida.

Notice how the osteoderm on the right is irregular, lumpy and pitted. It's also thickened and granular. It appears to be a bone infection, but it's impossible to say that some of the pits aren't tooth damage. Whatever injury caused the infection, the armadillo lumbered on for some time.

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http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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  • 6 months later...

Here are some pathologic teeth that I purchased from an estate sale :)

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  • I found this Informative 1

The soul of a Fossil Hunter is one that is seeking, always.

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Here's another bone pathology -- an osteoderm from a glyptothere from the Pleistocene of Florida.

Notice how the underside (internal side) of the osteoderm on the left is irregular, lumpy and pitted. It's also thickened and granular. It appears to be a bone infection that had spread to involve a number of osteoderms. A healthy osteoderm from the same animal is shown on the right. Whatever injury caused the infection, the glyptothere lumbered on for some time.

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Edited by Harry Pristis
  • I found this Informative 1

http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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A tooth from the James river, Virginia. It has a second blade growing out of it and 5 separate lines of serrations which meet at the tip. It has a large, round, swollen indentation; it may be been pierced during growth by a shard or barb.

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A tooth from the James river, Virginia. It has a second blade growing out of it and 5 separate lines of serrations which meet at the tip. It has a large, round, swollen indentation; it may be been pierced during growth by a shard or barb.

Wicked! I have seen some strange pathologies but this is a first.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Paul

"And the men who hold high places, Must be the ones to start

To mould a new reality, Closer to the Heart"

(Rush, "Closer to the Heart" from the album "A Farewell to Kings")

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That is a radical James River tooth, 'THobern'!

Here is a European cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) jaw with one sort of pathology. The first molar (m1) is lost, and the alveolus is filled in with bone. I believe that this suggests that the tooth was lost soon after it erupted, allowing the bone to heal completely.

There is no obvious evidence of a bone infection at the site, but notice how the premolar (p4) is oriented in the jaw. The long axis of that tooth is set at an angle to the tooth row. I think that this is further evidence of trauma to the jaw at a young age.

European cave bears had only four cheek teeth, having lost three of four lower premolars as they evolved. (The brown bear, Ursus arctos, has lost two and retained two lower premolars.)

Let's see some more pathologies!

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http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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This is one of my favorite threads. Such interesting

and very unusual fossil pathologies..

Wish I had more but I don't. Hope others do..

Welcome to the forum!

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With retroactive radiation?

Well, Ya, some of those isotopes have half lives of thousands of years! :P They could be the rare retrograde type! :D
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, sharks are techically fish ;) but I understand what you're saying. It's the oddest vert I've ever seen and the most pathologic I have.

It is a shark vertebra. A bony fish vertebra would show some remnant of the neural and hemal arches even if they were broken off cleanly. A shark's vertebra is at least partly calcified (to varying degrees depending on theshark). Because the arches are completely cartilaginous in any shark, they would never survive as part of a fossil (except under the most unusual burial conditions), leaving empty openings on the vertebra you exhibit.

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Guess what I found today :D

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A shark with a serious back problem!

Thanks siteseer, I thought it was shark :D

The soul of a Fossil Hunter is one that is seeking, always.

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  • 8 months later...

I just acquired this pathological bird ulna, and remembered this thread.

I have not yet (and may not be able to) identify the species, but it lived (for a while, anyway) with a nasty bone infection in a primary outer wing bone.

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  • I found this Informative 2

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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