35

There's a picture on Pinterest depicting a child's skull with all deciduous teeth (baby teeth) still attached, and adult teeth showing in a quite developed stage underneath:

picture described as a child's skull on Pinterest, originally from the Tobokoz photoblog

The picture is described as "A child’s skull before losing baby teeth". The point of displaying the picture seems to be that it's expected to be scary or disgusting - repulsive to the audience. This raises doubts about whether it is accurate, or an image that has been edited, or where context has been altered for shock value.

Is this image accurate (as a representation of a child's skull during normal teeth development)?

Improve this question
10
  • 3
    According to the FAQ, Skeptics.SE is for researching the evidence behind the claims you hear or read. This question doesn't appear to have any doubtful claims to investigate. Please edit it to reference a notable claim and flag for moderator attention to re-open (or get 5 re-open votes).
    – Sklivvz
    Commented May 23, 2012 at 6:56
  • By the way the answer is yes :)
    – nico
    Commented May 23, 2012 at 7:40
  • 2
    @Sklivvz The claim is that the image represents normal child teeth development. The thing that's doubtful about the claim is that it's a "shocker" image (which basically means it looks surprising in common sense) that's posted on an internet picture board. I understand that those are often fake. (In style of e.g. the shark jump image ) But yeah, I wasn't all that sure the question is suitable for the site myself either.
    – Ilari Kajaste
    Commented May 23, 2012 at 10:36
  • 6
    I think this question should be re-opened. It has a falsifiable claim, and there's a reasonable suspicion of mis-information (as opposed to merely asking a very technical question).
    – Golden Cuy
    Commented May 24, 2012 at 9:30
  • 2
    It also makes me feel uneasy. I suppose having "useless matter" (I can't think of any way to phrase it better) waiting in our body is unconsciously associated with sickness or disease. It feels like children are hosting parasites in their gums... Which is very irrational, of course.
    – Aeronth
    Commented Jul 4, 2013 at 13:05

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
44

Wikipedia article on decidious teeth references the picture from Gray's Anatomy.

Front view of skull.

Google search also gives some references.

Scheme on Colgate professional.

Permanent teeth

Article in dentist Rick Wilsond blog featuring X-Ray picture from 9 year old:

And also child's skull from Hunterian Museum in London:

Children's skull

Okay I think it's enough for this answer. So, I assume there're no obvious inaccuracies in the scary picture from question.

Improve this answer
1
  • 4
    A side-by-side image of the same skull with and without the layer of bone removed to show the tooth buds would be a great addition to this already great answer.
    – Patrick Fisher
    Commented Jul 23, 2017 at 5:46

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .