
The Mysterious Case of Exploding Teeth - Hooke
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160301-the-gruesome-and-mysterious-case-of-exploding-teeth
======
dsmithatx
Argh this seemed so interesting until I read it and realized there is no
conclusion. I believe the explosions were real and probably chemical in
nature. However, these new click bait articles are making reading news and
articles very painful. Either HN needs an update or we need a new place to get
our news without all this blather.

~~~
ZenPsycho
I was expecting this to be the case where they discovered that all the victims
worked at the same match factory, and the dental explosions were being caused
by sulphur poisoning.

------
tcopeland
That sounds a little like Mark Eberhart's "Why Things Break", where he talks
about a company made a contact lens product out of materials similar to
Corelle. One product was almost ready to be put on the market when they
realized that there was the potential for pitting or scratches to result in
the lens shattering explosively. Needless to say it didn't make it onto the
shelves.

I recommend that book; lots of interesting anecdotes and some good
explanations of the underlying materials.

------
ergothus
Great, because my occasional nightmares about losing my teeth weren't scary
enough, now I learn they might explode...

------
mchahn
> there has been no documented case of exploding teeth since the 1920s ...

... which makes be believe this is baloney.

------
philovivero
tl;dr: A bunch of people had teeth that hurt. There are a lot of theories
about why, none of which fit the facts. It remains a mystery, but the most
likely explanation is people were exaggerating the pain and the event where
the pain ceased.

~~~
rosser
I don't see any support in The Fine Article for exaggeration being "the most
likely explanation". It's _an_ explanation, sure. In assessing its likelihood,
you went from tl;dr-ing to editorializing.

