WHEN Mike Tyson bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield's right ear in last week's world heavyweight championship bout, his front teeth came together with a force equivalent to a weight of more than 20 kilograms, estimates a specialist in the mechanics of biting.
Tom Korioth of the University of Minnesota's School of Dentistry in Minneapolis has measured the forces exerted when we bite with our front teeth. In the June issue of the
The researchers established that biting is more than a simple downward and upward force: a bending of the jawbone creates a shearing action. "There's a slight deformation of the jawbones," says Korioth.
Most of us generate forces equivalent to a weight of around 10 kilograms when we bite with ...
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