Koala's Tooth from Growth till Tooth Decay
Koalas’ teeth grow steadily from their childhood throughout their adulthood. However, after maturity, or in many cases just before the maturity, there is always a tooth decay within the Koalas’ each tooth. In their earlier life with steady growth is a normal phenomenon since Koalas obtain their nourishments from their mother milk. However, as soon as these juvenile Koalas get their interaction with Eucalyptus leaves, this is the stage where their tooth decay starts. This is the core reason that even before the maturity and with the young Koalas, the tooth decay problem briefly emerges. Moreover, it just keeps on increasing until all of their tooth materials are being decomposed and Koalas could no longer chew the Eucalyptus leaves.
However, the Eucalyptus leaves’ consumption is not the only phenomenon that causes the tooth decay. The continuous grinding and re-grinding of the leaves, is another major reason for the tooth decay as well. Gradually because of this grinding the tooth decay reaches at such a level, that a Koala could have no tooth in its mouth at all. In simple words they all disappear. In that case the Koalas swallow the leaves without chewing and this probably ends the life of the Koalas. It is also very important to note that the upper tooth experience more tooth decay as compared to the lower tooth. The percentage speed of the upper tooth decay is around 40% as compared to the lower tooth decay which is around 27%.
Another noteworthy thing in this regard is that the chewing ability of the young and Juvenile Koalas is more efficient as compared to even the mature Koalas who reach their prime. In simple words a chewing ability of even the dominant male will be less efficient than the young Koalas. For elderly Koalas, the chewing ability is further less efficient. Less efficient chewing will always mean that the animal will be able to retain less energy, will be less active and no chewing will mean animal will die because its stomach will fail to extract any nutrition from these Eucalyptus leaves. Moreover, during the fermentation process the bigger leaves within the large intestine of the Koalas get ignored and no nutritional values could be extracted either. Therefore, tooth decay is a complete death alarm for the Koalas.
