Despite copious measuring of highly variable tooth wear patterns in numerous vertebrates, the etiology of dental wear caused by interactions between tooth and food material (incl. dust and grit) is still a matter of intense interdisciplinary debates. During the last decade, central questions regarding the relation between forage properties and the effect of abrasives on dental wear has been tested by new sets of in-vivo as well as in-vitro feeding experiments in mammals, birds and reptiles. In addition, data from recent field observations in primates provide new evidence that variation in feeding behaviors is another key player that is influenced by food geometric and material properties. Yet, these studies include usually highly precise but invasive animal experiments, access to the habitat and in the best-case long-term observations. Here, a comprehensive overview is given based on new insights from these studies and a set of testable tooth wear approximations is compiled. In order to provide a new and less invasive investigation option that combines the outcome of these studies, a new tool to simulate tooth wear during the masticatory process is introduced starting with selected model cases in equids. Simulation outcomes allowed the formulation of biomechanical explanations for the transition of the unworn (primary) occlusal surface into the functional, lateroventrally angulated (secondary) occlusal surface. The simulations are highly generalizable for many vertebrate groups, including possible morphological changes, simulating chewing as well as dental treatment options in a time reduced way.

Vertebrate tooth-grit-food interactions

[![](https://assets.underline.io/uploads/markdown_image/1/image/f714c103e8e82755b8cd5ffa521bb3d2.png)](https://zoom.us/rec/play/4zPZYGexFeuWmLA5iTk-DpspoSLX-IEK4yBAsVK6jE8R5qABmkdn3jsgEYz5mL8MT3VdfSvgtpVZLA4p.FEaI8q3_0c8DddAI?autoplay=true&startTime=1657003011000) 

Intra-oral food processing is a common feature of vertebrate feeding, characteristic not only of mammals, but also bony fishes, sharks, lizards, and birds. This taxonomical diversity offers an opportunity to evaluate relationships between architectural, physiological, mechanical, behavioral, and morphological diversity across a broad range of feeding system designs. At present, we lack a synthesis for the diversity of oral, intra-oral, and post-oral food processing behaviors, their functional roles, and the optimality criteria acting upon food processing across disparate vertebrate taxa. This session seeks to engage researchers working on structure-motion-mechanics, nutritional and ecological physiology, and macro-ecology and -evolution. Traditionally, those groups have weak interactions at SEB and we would like to contribute to breaking this trend. The key questions addressed by this special session are: What are the functions and optimality criteria of intra-oral food processing in vertebrates, and how do these parameters vary across taxa? Energetic considerations impact feeding system design at multiple scales, from the level of the whole organism down to individual muscles. Determining the appropriate scale at which to invoke energetic explanations is an important component of functional analysis. Are there unifying biomechanical and functional constraints on food processing across vertebrates and what mechanisms do different taxa use to overcome these constraints?

A19: Not just down the hatch: food processing, transport, and assimilation in jawed vertebrates 

technical paper

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SEB Annual Conference 2022

2022 will find over 1500 experimental biologists from across the globe converging on the third-largest French city near the Mediterranean coast and the fastest-growing city in the country over the past 25 years - Montpellier, France

Ellen Schulz-Kornas

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Vertebrate tooth-grit-food interactions

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