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Human tooth sharpening is the practice of manually sharpening the teeth, usually the front
incisors
Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wh ...
. Filed teeth are customary in various cultures. Many
remojadas
Remojadas () is a name applied to a culture, an archaeological site, as well as an artistic style that flourished on Mexico's Veracruz Gulf Coast from perhaps 100 BCE to 800 CE. The Remojadas culture is considered part of the larger Clas ...
figurines found in part of Mexico have filed teeth and it is believed to have been common practice in their culture. The
Zappo Zap
The Zappo Zap were a group of Songye people from the eastern Kasaï region in what today is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They acted as allies of the Congo Free State authorities, while trading in ivory, rubber and slaves.
In 1899 they were ...
people of the
Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
are believed to have filed their teeth.
Historically it was done for spiritual purposes, with some exceptions, but in modern times it is usually aesthetic in nature as an form of
body modification
Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common ear piercing in many s ...
.
History
Many cultures have practiced this form of
body modification
Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common ear piercing in many s ...
. In Bali, in a ritual known as
Potong gigi or cut teeth, teenagers have their
canine teeth filed down because it is thought they represented negative emotions such as
anger
Anger, also known as wrath or rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat.
A person experiencing anger will often experience physical effects, su ...
and
jealousy
Jealousy generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety.
Jealousy can consist of one or more emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy, helplessness or disgust. ...
.
It is also seen as a way to
spiritually separate them from their animalistic
instinct
Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behaviour, containing both innate (inborn) and learned elements. The simplest example of an instinctive behaviour is a fixed action pattern (FAP), in which a v ...
s and
ancestor
An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...
s.
After this
tradition
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
is completed the teens are now considered adults and are allowed to have sex and marry.
During this
ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...
the person receiving the procedure is dressed in very nice traditional clothing and would traditionally be carried from place to place by their parents as they are not allowed to touch the ground.
This is done to avoid encountering evil forces. In a more modernized version of the ritual the teen would wear socks to walk from place to place in order to stay off the ground.
Around the year 1910, the
African Herero people participated in forms of tooth sharpening. Both the boys and girls at
puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. ...
would have four of their lower teeth knocked out. This was followed by the top teeth being sharpened to points that resembled a “V”. The tribe regarded this tradition as a form of
beauty
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
. It was said that a girl that had not undergone this
procedure would not be able to attract a lover.
In
Ancient China
The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
, a group called Ta-ya Kih-lau (打牙仡佬, literally "仡佬 (
Gelao people
The Gelao people (also spelled Gelo) ( Gelao: ''Klau'', ) are an ethnic group of China and Vietnam. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. However, many Gelao are also variously classified a ...
) who beat out their teeth") had every woman about to wed knock out two of her
anterior teeth
In dentistry, the term anterior teeth usually refers as a group to the incisors and canine teeth as distinguished from the posterior teeth, which are the premolars and molars. The distinction is one of anterior (front of the body) versus posterio ...
to "prevent damage to the husband's family." Some cultures have distinctions between which
sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...
does what to their teeth. In the central Congo region, the
Upoto
Upoto was a village on the right bank of the Congo River, now a district of Lisala in the Mongala province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
History
Captain Hanssens of the International Association of the Congo
The International Asso ...
tribe has men file only teeth in the
maxilla
The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...
ry arch, whereas women file both
maxillary and
mandibular arch
The pharyngeal arches, also known as visceral arches'','' are structures seen in the embryonic development of vertebrates that are recognisable precursors for many structures. In fish, the arches are known as the branchial arches, or gill arch ...
es.
The
Mentawai people
Mentawai (also known as Mentawei and Mentawi) people are the native people of the Mentawai Islands (principally Siberut, Sipura, North Pagai and South Pagai) about 100 miles from West Sumatra province, Indonesia. They live a semi-nomadic hunter- ...
have also traditionally engaged in this practice. The Mentawai people believed that the soul and body were separate. If the soul was not pleased by its body it would leave and the person would die. As a result, the Mentawai people started modifying their bodies to be more beautiful. In Mentawai culture, those with teeth that have been sharpened are deemed more beautiful. Tooth sharpening would have been traditionally done at puberty, though contact with outside civilizations has resulted in a decline of tooth sharpening.
Today, the Mentawai people use a sharpened
chisel
A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge (such that wood chisels have lent part of their name to a particular grind) of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, stru ...
and another object that acts as a
hammer
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...
. They use no
anesthetic
An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia — in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...
s or
pain killers
An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It i ...
, and bite down on a piece of
wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
. Green bananas are bitten on to reduce pain after the procedure.
David Livingstone
David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...
mentioned a number of African tribes who practiced teeth-filing, including the
Bemba,
Yao,
Makonde, Matambwe, Mboghwa and Chipeta.
Koesbardiati, Toetik mentions
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
tribes that practice human teeth sharpening in the
Prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
and
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic populations of Indonesia.
In the Prehistoric Population from
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
,
Bali
Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
,
Sumba
Sumba ( id, Pulau Sumba) is an island in eastern Indonesia. It is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands and is in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Sumba has an area of , and the population was 779,049 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as a ...
, and
Flores
Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...
, dental modifications primarily occurred in canines and incisors but not all of the modifications were for survival.
The
extraction method practiced by the Flores was for beauty purposes.
Human teeth sharpening also continued to occur during the 17th century but this was mostly practiced by those in nobility or those with social prominence.
Skeletal remains in the area show that dental filing occurred.
Examples in the modern world
*
Horace Ridler, "the Zebra man", included tooth sharpening as one of many body modifications he underwent in order to serve as a circus performer.
*In the Indonesian population of Bali, there is a sacred religious practice in which the maxillary front teeth are filed for the purpose of refraining from evil
lust
Lust is a psychological force producing intense desire for something, or circumstance while already having a significant amount of the desired object. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can ...
.
*In the Indonesian population of
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is East Timor–Indonesia border, divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western p ...
, residents file the occlusion surface for beauty purposes as it makes the residents feel more comfortable around others.
*Among the
Mentawai people
Mentawai (also known as Mentawei and Mentawi) people are the native people of the Mentawai Islands (principally Siberut, Sipura, North Pagai and South Pagai) about 100 miles from West Sumatra province, Indonesia. They live a semi-nomadic hunter- ...
in Indonesia, the wife of the soon-to-be chief decides to have her teeth sharpened as a sign of great beauty.
References
External links
{{commons category, Sharpened teeth
University of Pennsylvania exhibit on body modification
Dental modification