People modify themselves…
… sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. As you probably know, the vertebrae in your backbone can be modified if you carry heavy loads for a long time, and you’ll develop Schmorl’s node (a kind of notch in the bone where the nucleus pulposus is pushed into the vertebrae body).
 |
| Schmorl’s node (aka “notch” or “depression”) P/C: Wikimedia. |
And of course, modifying your teeth has been popular for some time. These are pictures of two Zapotec skulls I saw in the museum at Monte Alban, near Oaxaca, Mexico.
(And you thought wearing jewelry in your teeth was a modern thing… These dental inlays date from circa 200 AD.)
 |
| With jade inlays… |
 |
| Without the inlays… |
Whether from work (as in Schmorl’s notch), or intentionally for beautification reasons, people have modified themselves in many ways over the years. Tattoos and scarification have been done forever, but modifications involving underlying bones or teeth are much less common, probably because of the possibility of things going badly.
But, bone and teeth modifications do happen. (Note that I’m excluding surgical operations, like trephination, from this discussion.)
As usual, if you know the exact term to describe what you’re looking for, the search process becomes MUCH simpler. Seeing these “dental inlays” reminded me that they were common among the Maya, Zapotec, and Aztecs. Of course, knowing the term “dental inlay” makes your search much simpler, and a search for [ Maya dental inlay ] is really interesting.
So today’s Challenge is to find a few specific terms to help target your searches in today’s topic area…. bone & teeth modification!
1. I’ve heard that people who habitually smoke a pipe have a distinctive pattern of wear on their teeth. Does that particular pattern of wear have a specific name? What is it?
2. Same question, except for people who are habitual sewers (that is, people who make clothes often). Do they have a particular pattern of wear in their teeth? What’s that called?
3. Despite the difficult of bone modification, there is one bone that is (was) commonly modified by certain groups of people. What bone is that? How was it usually modified?
In our usual way, please let us know the answers in the comment section below. Be sure to tell us HOW to found it! What queries did you do to discover the answer? (Or did you just know it off the top of your head?)
My answers (and answer paths) on Monday of next week.
Search on!
