Chewbacca's Dental Checkup

June 4 is Anti-cavites Day in Japan.
It occurred to me that I could do Chewbacca's dental checkup
when I saw him yawning

I looked up wombats' teeth and
picked the pictures of Chewbacca's yawning. and his lovely teeth.

(Most pictures are repeated.)

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Wombat Teeth

　In common with all the other members of its order, the Diprodonta, the wombat has only two lower incisors teeth, but it is the only marsupial to have only two incisors in the upper jaws also. There is a large gap, called the diastema, between the incisors and the rest ofthe teeth, which consist of one premolar and four molars on each side of each jaw.
The wombat's teeth are unique in that both the incisors and the molars are rootless and continue to grow throughout the animal's life.
Rodents -- rats, mice and so on -- also have continuously growing incisors, but their molars have permanent roots. (from "The Wombat"p.20)

Undersides of the wombat's skull.
Note the long gap, the diastema, between the incisors and the cheek teeth.

The lower jaw also has a long diastema.
Note the chisel-like incisors.

Wombat Lips

Both the upper and lower lips are fleshy and mobile,the upper lip particularly so, and the cleft in its centre gives an even greater mobility, which is very useful when the animal is selecting grass stems.("The Wombat"p.20)

<A book for reference>
The Wombat: Common Wombats in Australia
Barbara Triggs, University of New South Wales Press Ltd, Sydney, 1988.
ISBN 0 86840 263 X

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Time for a dental check up

Chewbacca, it's time to check up your teeth.
Please open your mouth!
For Pete's sake, don't bite!

1999.10.31

Do you know how many teeth I have?
I'm afraid that some of you believe I have only four teeth.
I have 24 teeth all together.

-Chewbacca-