Bulk up on historical and general tooth trivia to share with your patients and friends:

• An elephant's molar teeth weigh between eight and ten pounds each, and measure about one foot across - which is equivalent to more than 500 human teeth.
• In the Middle Ages, if you had a toothache, you were encouraged to find relief by kissing a donkey.
• Right-handed individuals tend to chew on the right-hand side of the mouth, and left-handed individuals tend to chew on the left-hand side of the mouth.
• The first "toothpaste" was likely a mixture of bones, eggshells, oyster shells, and honey.
• In 1994, an inmate at a West Virginia prison braided dental floss into a rope and used it to scale a wall to escape.
• In America, the toothpick is the object most often involved in choking incidents.
• The male farmer depicted in the famous painting "American Gothic" was actually artist Grant Woods' dentist.
• In 1800s Victorian England, people with dentures ate in private before gatherings or dinners to avoid the embarrassment of having their teeth "fall off" while dining.
• In medieval Japan, white teeth were considered unattractive, so women used roots and inks to stain their teeth black.