10/11/2025
🦷 Evolution in real time? More people are being born *without* teeth.
More people today are being born without certain adult teeth — not due to decay or injury, but because those teeth never form at all.
This condition, known as tooth agenesis, is becoming increasingly common and is now seen by scientists as a visible marker of ongoing human evolution. A large study published in Scientific Reports found that those missing teeth often have smaller upper jaws and narrower faces, hinting at a broader trend. As modern diets require less chewing—thanks to processed and soft foods—our jaws are shrinking, while other parts of our skulls, like the cranium, continue to grow.
This evolutionary shift reveals a fascinating mismatch: our brains are expanding, but our faces are flattening. Researchers suspect that shared genetic mechanisms may be driving these coordinated changes, affecting both craniofacial structure and neurological development. It’s a striking example of micro-evolution—small, gradual biological changes that reflect how modern environments shape our bodies. Far from being frozen in time, human evolution is still very much alive—playing out in the contours of our jaws, the shape of our faces, and even the number of teeth we grow.
Source: “Number of teeth is associated with facial size in humans.” Scientific Reports,
