http://animals.howstuffworks.com/fish/sharks/shark4.

htm
Shark Teeth
A shark's only real weapon is its mouth. Like its fins and sense organs, the shark's mouth is a highly
effective physiological adaptation, perfectly suited to its job. There are two elements that make the
mouth so effective: theteeth and the jaws.
Shark teeth are something like the teeth of land predators. They have very sharp points that will cut
into meat. Sharks are exclusively carnivores, so for the most part they don't need any grinders for
chewing plant matter. Some bottom dwelling sharks do have special grinding teeth for cracking shells
open, but more active sharks have teeth suited only for eating flesh. There are a wide variety of shark
teeth, just as there are a wide variety of sharks. These teeth can be divided into two general
categories.
Many shark species, such as the goblin shark and sand tiger, have very long, thin teeth. This
structure is well suited for catching small fish. The shark kills the fish immediately, by piercing it with a
single bite. Then it swallows the fish whole.
Sharks that go after larger prey need a different strategy and a different sort of tooth. They tear into
their prey several times, biting off large pieces of flesh. Sharks in this group, which includes the
infamous great white shark, have wide serrated teeth. These teeth act something like a hunting knife
-- they cut easily through tough flesh and bone. Many sharks have combinations of long pointed teeth
and wider serrated teeth, so they can hold their prey in place while they cut into it.
Shark teeth have the same basic consistency as our teeth, but they don't sit in the mouth in the same
way. Our teeth rest in sockets, and aren't replaced after childhood. Shark teeth are attached to the
jaw by soft tissue, and they fall out all the time. This is crucial to the shark's effectiveness -- worn or
broken teeth are continually replaced by new, sharper teeth. In some sharks, such as the great white,
these teeth are arranged in several rows.
Click the button to see how a shark bites its prey.
Sharks have a very unique jaw structure, which makes their mouths especially effective weapons. In
most animals, the lower jaw moves freely but the upper jaw is firmly attached to the skull. In sharks,
the upper jaw rests below the skull, but can be detached when the shark attacks its prey. This lets the
shark thrust its entire mouth forward to grab onto its prey. Jaw mobility varies among different species,
but all modern sharks have this ability to some degree.
In the next section, we'll find out what science knows about the life of a shark.
MAN EATERS?
Sharks terrify people because some of them can, and sometimes will, feed on human beings. Sharks
do attack humans from time to time, but the risk of attack is actually very slight. Only a small
proportion of shark species have been known to attack, and even these species exhibit this behavior
very rarely.
These sharks typically attack defensively, when a person has wandered into their environment, or
accidentally, because they've mistaken a person for their standard prey. In both cases, chances are
the shark will flee after only one bite. They don't have any real interest in humans as a food source.
Between 75 and 100 shark attacks are reported every year, and fewer than 20 are fatal. Statistically,
this is an extremely low number.































http://www.sharksinfo.com/teeth.html#.U8aKL_mSwbg
SHARKS TEETH
Sharks teeth are instrumental to their diet and hunting habits. They are used
as the chief tools for grabbing, killing and tearing at their prey. Due to their
sheer size and nature, shark teeth have even become collectible, particularly
for fishermen and hunters.

The teeth of these fearsome creatures are unique in several ways. First, they
are embedded within the gum of the shark, rather than being rooted within the
actual jaw, as is the case with most other toothed animals. This allows them to
be replaced more easily, without pain and discomfort to the animal.
This leads to the next interesting characteristic of shark teeth, they are
replaced on a regular basis. In most species, teeth are replaced as they are
lost or damaged in hunting and eating. In other species, entire rows of teeth
are replaced at a time. Several rows (usually about five) of teeth are grown in
a special groove in the jaw.

Well preserved Mako shark jaws iluminated to show
teeth rows and jaw structure
As they develop and the existing teeth in use need to be replaced, the rows
move forward to replace the front row. Sharks can have approximately 3000
teeth in their mouths at any given time. The rate at which this replacement
occurs varies between once every eight days and once in several months. A
shark can lose over 30 000 teeth in its lifespan! More teeth are lost and
replaced during summer than winter as the shark is more active in terms of
feeding and hunting in the warmer months.

The teeth are placoid scales that have been modified for this specific purpose.
They resemble human teeth in that they have a central pulp cavity with
dentine and an outer layer of enamel. They develop on the inner jaw cartilage
and are attached to the dental membrane. The crown cap of the tooth
develops first, followed by the root.
The shape of the tooth depends on the species and its specific requirements.
Generally, sharks do not chew their food, but use their teeth to grab, hold and
rip the prey into bite-sized chunks. Teeth can be sharp, wedge-shaped and
wide with a serrated edge, as in the case of a Great White Shark. This shape
is best suited to grabbing and tearing prey apart.

Species like the Lemon and Mako sharks have thin, sharp teeth that are ideal
for catching and gripping slippery fish. Bottom dwellers, like the Nurse Shark
or Angel Shark, have thick, conical or flat teeth at the backs of their mouths.
These are designed to crush crabs and other molluscs found on the ocean
floor. Sharks that feed on plankton, like the Whale Shark, have little need for
teeth as food is passed through large filters and then swallowed. In these
cases, the teeth are reduced.
Because the teeth are the only part of the shark to be composed of bone, they
are the part most likely to be fossilised, providing researchers with vital
information about past and present species. The teeth of the Megalodon, for
example, have provided much information regarding this ancient sharks
feeding, mating and migrating habits. It is hoped that the sharks of today will
continue to yield interesting and essential details about the world centuries,
even millennia, from now, through the secrets held in their fossilised teeth.

http://www.sharkproject.org/haiothek/index_e.php?site=anatomie_9#










http://www.sharksavers.org/en/education/biology/shark-teeth1/
SHARK TEETH
Biologists often say form follows function, meaning that, due to the evolutionary
process, the morphological features of an organisms body are fitted to the activities
of an organism. A sharks teeth are no exception to this rule. Over time, evolution
has turned a sharks teeth into the perfect tools for a predators manner of feeding.
Teeth are key to understanding prehistoric sharks
In fact, if it werent for sharks teeth, we would know very little about prehistoric
sharks at all! Since sharks are cartilaginous fish, their teeth are often the only part of
their bodies that entered the fossil record. This is because shark teeth are modified
placoid scales, which, like our own teeth, consist of a central pulp cavity surrounded
by dentine and a hard enamel surface. Shark teeth are used almost exclusively to
classify ancient species of sharks. Some prehistoric sharks are known to scientists
only by the shape and size of their teeth.
Sharks have numerous rows of teeth
When you consider the number of teeth a shark uses during this lifetime, this
information is hardly a surprise. A sharks teeth are arranged in rows, the number of
which varies from species to species. The row nearest the front of the mouth is the
working row of teeth (though some sharks use up to the first 8 rows of teeth), and
they are the largest teeth in a sharks mouth. The second row of teeth is smaller than
the first row of teeth, the third row of teeth is smaller than the fourth row, and so on.
Every time a shark loses a tooth, the tooth in the row behind it moves up to take the
lost tooths place. This is possible because sharks teeth are not embedded in the
jaw, but are attached to the skin covering the jaw.
Teeth are continually being grown
New teeth are continually grown in a groove in the sharks mouth and the skin acts
as a conveyor belt to move the teeth forward into new positions. Sharks
specialized teeth have allowed sharks to develop a very strong jaw. Without the
ability to quickly replace teeth, a sharks jaw could not have developed as powerful of
a bite. The number of teeth they routinely lose while catching prey would outweigh
the quick-kill benefits of their crushing jaw strength.
The time it takes for a shark use and lose each tooth varies, depending on the
species and age. Younger sharks replace their teeth more often. There is also some
evidence that sharks teeth last significantly longer during colder water temperature
in some sharks, a time when they traditionally eat less. While most sharks replace
teeth individually, other sharks, like the cookie-cutter shark, replace their entire
mouthful of teeth at one time. The number of teeth a shark grows and uses during its
lifetime can be enormous some sharks use up over 30,000 teeth in their lifetime!
Thats roughly 937 times the number of teeth the average human has!
There are four different types of shark teeth
While sharks teeth do share the common traits described above, they have very
different shapes and uses. There are four basic groups of shark diets and because
of this there are four basic types of shark teeth.
-Sharks that typically eat fish have long, narrow, needle-like teeth ideal for gripping
something as slippery and streamlined as a fish.
-Sharks that are benthic feeders, eating bivalves and crustaceans, have thick, plate-
like teeth perfect for crushing the shells of their prey.
-Tiger sharks, great white sharks, and other sharks that primarily eat seals and other
mammals have sharp, serrated cutting teeth for tearing off chunks of flesh.
-Finally, we have the gentle giants of the shark family, the basking sharks and whale
sharks, that eat krill and other forms of plankton. While they have many teeth, they
are tiny and useless, as these sharks feed by filtering water through their gills.

























Tiger shark -Galeocerdo cuvier (knife,knife)
To finish our small dentistry chapter, we would like to describe a very unusual form of
teeth. According to experts, these are some of the highest developed teeth among
animals. These teeth can be found in the tiger shark. The teeth in the upper and
lower jaw are the same. When the shark bites, they work like small, rolling saws.
These cut & cut teeth enable tiger sharks to cut their prey extremely efficiently. Even
hard tortoise shells are unable to resist these teeth.
A tiger shark will eat any type of fish, shark, animal, and small entity it can find in the
water. They are very curious by nature and will taste anything that comes their way.
The stomachs of tiger sharks have been found with some very unique items inside of
them. This includes pieces of boats and ships, jewelry, clothing, tires, books, and
more. If it finds its way into the water there is a good chance a tiger shark is going to
dine on it.
Tiger sharks tend to have a very big appetite but they will also eat when they arent
hungry just because they see something around them that they enjoy. The variation
in weight has to do with how much food is readily available in the area where they
live.
They are consummate scavengers, with excellent senses of sight and smell and a
nearly limitless menu of diet items. They have sharp, highly serrated teeth and
powerful jaws that allow them to crack the shells of sea turtles and clams. The
stomach contents of captured tiger sharks have included stingrays, sea snakes,
seals, birds, squids, and even license plates and old tires

Sand tiger shark (fork,fork)
Sharks that typically eat fish have long, narrow, needle-like teeth ideal for gripping
something as slippery and streamlined as a fish.
Pointed teeth at the top and bottom are a typical sign for sharks specialising in prey
they can swallow whole. When the sharks have grabbed their prey, it is difficult for it
to get free from the slightly backwards-bent teeth. Such sharks eat smaller prey, such
as small rays, fish, cephalopods and crustaceans. A sand tiger shark is a typical
example for this tooth family.
Sand tigers tend to feed on crabs, lobsters, squid and large fish. This is where the
curved teeth really help: crushing the shells of crabs and lobsters and holding
slippery squid and fish in place.
Whale shark -Rhincodon typus (filter)
gentle giants of the shark family, the basking sharks and whale sharks, that eat krill
and other forms of plankton. While they have many teeth, they are tiny and useless,
as these sharks feed by filtering water through their gills.
The whale shark is a typical filter feeding shark. It roams the seas with its mouth
open and uses its gill rakers to filter food, such as plankton or small crustaceans and
fish, from the water. Whale sharks have about 3,000 very tiny teeth but they are of
little use.
The whale shark feeds actively by opening its mouth, distending the jaws and
sucking. Than it closes its mouth and the water flow out its gills. During the slight
delay between closing the mouth and opening the gill flaps, plankton may be trapped
against the dermal denticles lining the gill plates and pharynx.
Once the whale shark draws in a big gulp of plankton-rich ocean water, it closes its
mouth and expels the water through a set of large gills. The gills act like strainers,
filtering out the water while keeping solid organisms smaller than about 2 centimeters
in diameter. Researchers believe that when larger bits of ocean life get stuck in its
gills, the whale shark coughs to clear these filters.
Port Jackson - Heterodontus portusjacksoni (nutcracker)
Sharks that are benthic feeders, eating bivalves and crustaceans, have thick, plate-
like teeth perfect for crushing the shells of their prey.
For cracking and grinding prey
The Port Jackson shark is a typical nutcracker. It can easily crack hard shells and
crustaceans and grinds its food into the smallest of pieces.
With 'heteros' meaning different, and 'dont' meaning tooth in Greek, you are about to
find out why Heterodontid sharks, such as the Port Jackson shark (Heterodontus
portusjacksoni), are so different to the sharks seen in movies like Jaws!
they have pointed front teeth and blunt rear teeth perfect for holding, breaking,
crushing and grinding prey such as sea urchins, molluscs, crustaceans and fish.
The teeth function to hold and break, then crush and grind the shells of molluscs and
echinoderms. - See more at: http://australianmuseum.net.au/Port-Jackson-Shark-
Heterodontus-portusjacksoni-Meyer-1793#sthash.jPqQnOxg.dpuf

Great white shark- Carcharodon carcharias (Knife, Fork)
In contrast. the oceanic white tipped shark is a typical knife & fork shark. Its triangular
teeth at the top cut the prey to make swallowing easier, while the pointed teeth at the
bottom hold it firm. These teeth show that it is an omnivore. Fish are part of its prey
as much as rays, octopi, oceanic snails and birds. Great white sharks also belong in
the knife & fork group. Great white sharks also have long, pointed teeth in the lower
law, no matter what people commonly believe. The triangular saw teeth in the upper
jaw only develop in the adult animal. Young great white sharks have fork & fork teeth,
which shows what kind of prey they prefer when still young.
Great white sharks, like many other sharks, have rows of serrated teeth behind the
main ones, ready to replace any that break off. When the shark bites, it shakes its
head side-to-side, helping the teeth saw off large chunks of flesh.

Revolver teeth
Shark teeth are not embedded firmly in the jaw. This is due to the softer cartilage skeleton of
sharks. The teeth are only loosely attached to the cartilage jaw. Therefore, sharks lose teeth
relatively easily. What would a shark be without teeth, though? Nature therefore gave it so-
called revolver teeth. Sharks do not have a single row of teeth, but several next to each
other. When one tooth is lost, the tooth from the next row moves up. This is a relatively quick
process and will be completed within a few weeks. A lemon shark produces about 40,000
new teeth over the course of its life.


There is another special features where the eating or biting features of sharks are concerned.
Only they have an inferior mouth. This means that the mouth is situated in the lower third of
the head unsuitable for forceful bites. Once, people thought that sharks had to turn on their
backs for eating because they could only open their mouths wide enough then. Today we
know that this is not true. When a shark wants to bite, it completely unhinges its upper jaw,
as shown in the figure. Then the upper jaw can be tilted far upwards, until the two jaw halves
are aligned on top of each other. Then the animal can bite forcefully.

Cutting larger prey
Since sharks are unable to chew, they need to cut their prey differently. The lower row of
teeth holds the prey while the upper half with the saw teeth is moved sideways. This way,
the prey is efficiently cut up.