Doctors have noticed a dangerous trend: humanity may forget how to speak

More and more children are being born with an incomplete set of molars

In recent years, doctors around the world have been confronted with a new trend: some children are born with an incomplete set of molars. That is, instead of 32 teeth, 28, or even 24, will form in their jaws. So far there is no exact explanation for this phenomenon, but the main version is the large amount of ground food in our diets. But the consequences of this new round of evolution, according to experts, can be catastrophic. The matter may end up with the fact that over time, homo sapiens will lose the function of speech.

According to the professor of the Department of Childhood Diseases of the Clinical Institute of Child Health. N.F. Filatov First Moscow State Medical University named after. THEM. Sechenov Lusine Khachatryan, pediatricians are increasingly encountering in their practice children who were born without molars (the so-called sixth, seventh and eighth teeth of the permanent row). “Scientists believe that the reason for this phenomenon is the large amount of ground food in our diet: we use blenders and, unlike our ancestors, we do not eat solid foods that require effort to chew. Children born without molars do not know how to chew at the age of 3-5, hence the poor development of speech. It’s hard to say whether it’s adaptation or deprivation.”

Incomplete teeth in children is already becoming a trend, and not only in Russia. And the consequences of this phenomenon are very different. Italian Dr. Christian Guilimino, in his work “Missing teeth and obstructive sleep apnea in children,” showed that adhesion (absence) of teeth in children can lead to abnormal facial morphology and narrowing of the upper respiratory tract. The doctor also analyzed the relationship between dental agenesis and the presence of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA).

A study conducted by his team revealed that all children with missing teeth (two or more) had clinical complaints and signs of OSA. “The growth of alveolar bone depends on the presence of teeth that it supports. Children who were missing permanent teeth due to congenital agenesis had a smaller oral cavity, predisposing them to upper airway collapse during sleep, and had OSA diagnosed later in life. Due to weak initial symptoms, sleep disordered breathing is not treated for a long period, and therefore symptoms progress over time,” note the authors of the work.

Somnologist, clinical neuropsychologist, candidate of medical sciences Grigory Anisimov says that with adhesion, children actually often snore when they sleep on their backs: “Early refusal of breastfeeding leads to disruption of the anatomy of the jaw muscles, so such children do not know how to chew. The jaw develops small and the face becomes expressionless.”

Grigory Anisimov notes that there is a great leap evolutionary theory, according to which the universe develops cyclically: “Once upon a time, our ancestors were non-speaking. Small children are still born with jaws that allow them to avoid choking when they eat milk while lying down for up to 2-3 months. But then the jaw comes forward, as a result of which the person may choke. Humanity has begun to pay for the ability to speak with snoring.”

But, if we take into account the theory of the Great Leap Forward and the increasing incidence of children being born without the teeth necessary for chewing and speech, everything may return to normal: people will simply stop speaking like their distant ancestors. This is facilitated by a variety of gadgets. Children, captivated by messengers, want to communicate with their peers less and less, says Lusina Khachatryan: “And their parents set such an example for them. Often mothers come to appointments who are glued to their smartphones, while their children are looking at their iPads. Many children don’t even get toys or rattles, but they have to play.”

“During the first three months of life, a child must study his mother’s face in order to learn to perceive the world and socialize. And modern children look at gadgets from infancy, and then they have difficulties with communication and reading,” says Dr. Anisimov.

So the scientists’ forecasts do not look so fantastic.