Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1895 — Power of the Human Jaws. [ARTICLE]

Power of the Human Jaws.

Dr. G. V. Black, a dentist of Jacksonville, Fla., has made some interesting experiments upon the force exerted by the human jaws in the ordinary mastication of food, and also the greatest force which the jaws are capable of exerting. By means of aapring-iastruinent provided with a registering device he took records of about 150 “bites” of different persons. Of these fifty have been preserved as characteristic of the ordinary man, woman and child. The smallest pressure recorded was thirty pounds, by a little 7 year old. This was with the incisors. Using her molars, the same child exerted a force of sixty-five pounds. The highest record was made by a physician of 35. The instrument used only registered 270 pounds, and he closed it together without apparent effort. There was no method of determining how far above 270 pounds he could have gone. This test was made with the molars Several persons exceeded a force of 100 pounds with the incisors and 100 with the molars. The physical condition of the persons experimented upon seemed to have little bearing upon the result. Dr. Black is of the opinion that the condition of the peridental membranes is the controlling factor, rather than muscular strength. I Dr. Black found that, in the habitual chewing of food, much more force is exerted than is necessary.