ArticleThe Journal of experimental biology2024
Is a blunt sword pointless? Tooth wear impacts puncture performance in Tasmanian devil canines.
Article in The Journal of experimental biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trade-offs in mechanical performance influence the diversity of fangs, stingers, and spines.Science advances · 2026Article
- A novel method for constructing a rat multifactorial tooth wear model: accurate, inexpensive, and easily established.BMC oral health · 2026Article
- The geometry of Nature's stingers is universal due to stochastic mechanical wear.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Comparing cranial biomechanics between Barbourofelis fricki and Smilodon fatalis: Is there a universal killing-bite among saber-toothed predators?Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2025Article
- Sharpening our understanding of saber-tooth biomechanics.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
As teeth wear, their shapes change and functional features can be dulled or lost, presumably making them less effective for feeding. However, we do not know the magnitude and effect of this wear. Using Tasmanian devil canines as a case study, we investigated the impact of wear on puncture in pointed teeth. We measured aspects of shape impacted by wear (tip sharpness, height and volume) in teeth of varying wear followed by 3D printing of real and theoretical forms to carry out physical puncture tests. Tooth wear acts in two ways: by blunting tooth tips, and decreasing height and volume, both of which impact performance. Sharper tips in unworn teeth decrease the force and energy required to puncture compared with blunter worn teeth, while taller unworn teeth provide the continuous energy necessary to propagate fracture relative to shorter worn teeth. These wear-modulated changes in shape necessitate more than twice the force to drive worn teeth into ductile food and decrease the likelihood of puncture success.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.