# Tooth ablation
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{{Short description|Deliberate removal of a person's healthy teeth}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2023}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{distinguish|text=[Dental avulsion](/source/Dental_avulsion), which is caused by [dental trauma](/source/dental_trauma)}}
[[File:Batonga Beauty by having front teeth removed Wellcome M0005727.jpg|thumb|A [BaTonga](/source/Tonga_people_(Zambia_and_Zimbabwe)) woman with extracted front teeth, for beauty purposes.]]
'''Tooth ablation''' (also known as ''tooth evulsion'', ''dental evulsion'' and ''tooth extraction'') is the deliberate removal of a person's healthy [teeth](/source/human_tooth), and has been recorded in a variety of ancient and modern societies around the world. This type of [dental modification](/source/dental_modification) is visually very striking and immediately obvious to other people from the same or different communities. There are numerous reasons for performing tooth ablation, including group identification, ornamentation, and [rites of passage](/source/Rite_of_passage) such as [coming of age](/source/coming_of_age), marriage and [mourning](/source/mourning). The social meaning of tooth evulsion is likely to remain unknown for ancient populations and may have changed over time within those groups. Dental evulsion can significantly affect the [emergence](/source/tooth_eruption), [occlusion](/source/Occlusion_(dentistry)) and [wear patterns](/source/Tooth_wear) of the remaining teeth.[{{cite journal |last1=Humphrey |first1=Louise T. |last2=Bocaege |first2=Emmy |title=Tooth Evulsion in the Maghreb: Chronological and Geographical Patterns |date=2008 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226917934}}]
==Procedure==
There are various techniques used to perform dental evulsion; however, regardless of the technique, dental evulsion could not have been achieved without causing pain and a risk of infection. In Hawaii, [incisor](/source/incisor)s were knocked out with a stick and rock, which frequently resulted in the presence of residual roots within the jaw. In Africa, extractive techniques were used. In [Sudan](/source/Sudan), fish hooks and metal wires were used to remove [deciduous](/source/Deciduous_teeth) [tooth germ](/source/tooth_germ)s before an infant reached one month. In the [Upper Nile](/source/Nile), the entire tooth was removed by loosening the anterior teeth from their sockets with an iron spike. The [Nuer people](/source/Nuer_people) of [South Sudan](/source/South_Sudan) still practice an extractive technique whereby a fine blade is used to loosen the teeth alongside the root, which takes place without anesthetic and the individual is not allowed to show emotion or pain.[{{cite journal |last1=De Groote |first1=Isabelle |last2=Humphrey |first2=Louise T. |title=Title: Characterizing Evulsion in the Later Stone Age Maghreb: age, sex and effects on mastication |date=2016 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/42477644.pdf}}]
The evulsion of the lower teeth would have resulted in a highly visible change to the individual's facial characteristics and would also have affected the pronunciation of language and other sounds.[{{cite journal |last1=Vilma Pinchi |title=Dental Ritual Mutilations and Forensic Odontologist Practice: a Review of the Literature |journal=Acta Stomatologica Croatica |date=2015 |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=3–13 |doi=10.15644/asc49/1/1 |pmid=27688380 |pmc=4945341 }}] In [Cape Town](/source/Cape_Town), South Africa, dental evulsion occurs often as a rite of passage for both [Black](/source/Bantu_peoples_of_South_Africa) and [White South African](/source/White_South_Africans) teenagers, almost exclusively among families of low socio-economic status. The people of the [Cape Flats](/source/Cape_Flats) have been performing dental modification for at least 60 years, by removing their incisors. South African [Coloureds](/source/Coloureds) are known for removing their anterior teeth, which is popularly believed to be a facilitation for oral sex, called a "[passion gap](/source/passion_gap)" or "Cape Flats Smile". Other reasons are fashion, [peer pressure](/source/peer_pressure) and [gang](/source/gang)sterism. The practice has become more popular in the last few years, even though dentists do not support the removal of healthy teeth. Therefore, South African dentists have applied thousands of [partial denture](/source/partial_denture)s in patients who need an acceptable look at work or on special occasions.[{{cite journal |last1=Singer |first1=Ronald |title=ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF TEETH: A PRELIMINARY REPORT* |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/EJC-bda8b805b |date=1953}}] Archeological evidence shows that peoples in Formosa and on the [Chinese mainland](/source/Chinese_mainland) practiced tooth extraction before the time that the [Austronesian peoples](/source/Austronesian_peoples) dispersed from there.[{{cite journal |last1=Martens |first1=Michael |title=Tooth transfigurement in Indonesia |date=2013 |url=http://sulang.org/sites/default/files/sulanglextopics017-v1.pdf |access-date=10 August 2021}}] In [Indonesia](/source/Indonesia), the teeth that are most commonly removed in such rituals are the incisors. The teeth to be removed are either struck with a hammer-like tool or jerked to the side with a lever-like tool to loosen them, before being extracted. Among the Uma people of [Central Sulawesi](/source/Central_Sulawesi), all of a young girl's incisors (four upper and four lower) were removed in the rite of passage called ([Uma](/source/Uma_language): mehopu’), which was performed at the beginning of puberty. The [Dutch colonial government](/source/Dutch_East_Indies) banned this rite around the beginning of the 1920s, and the practice had almost died out by the 1940s.[{{cite journal |last1=Rigsby |first1=Bruce |last2=Chase |first2=Athol |title=The Sandbeach People and dugong hunters of Eastern Cape York Peninsula: property in land and sea country |url=https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/11414/Chap12-Rigsby&Chase-Customary-Marine-Tenure.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=10 August 2021}}]
In the [New Hebrides](/source/New_Hebrides) the two upper central incisors are removed in puberty. This is performed only for girls, as a sign of entrance into adulthood and a sacrifice made to represent the value of death in suffering, to pay the price for progressing socially from being a girl to becoming a woman.