We often associate sitting in the dentist's chair with annoyance and pain, but dentists never get enough credit for making that experience much less painful than it actually could be.
In the 19th century, for instance, a dentist by the name of W.H. Atkinson wrote about a bizarre condition that caused people's teeth to explode in their mouths. (And you thought getting cavities filled was painful!)
One morning, he heard a loud crack in his mouth that sounded "like a pistol shot." After his tooth shattered into tiny pieces, the pain went away.
Some say the sound that came from her mouth was so loud that she went deaf for a few days after the fact.
if this condition actually existed, but one of its causes could have been that severe tooth decay often leads to gas buildup at the root. When the tooth is filled with too much gas, it explodes like a balloon.
That could explain the bizarre explosions.
