Asked by: Kaylee Sicre
medical health vaccines

How much force does a human jaw have?

31
A. The force of the human bite in chewing is usually given as around 70 pounds per square inch, but that figure is for the back molars; the force tapers off toward the front of the jaw, because of the shape of the lever being worked by the jaw muscles.


Considering this, what is the bite force of a human?

The average strength of a human bite is 162 pounds per square inch (PSI), but this pales in comparison to nature's champion chompers.

Similarly, are human jaws stronger than dogs? Some people who are afraid of dogs will claim that certain dog breeds can exert over 2,000 pounds of pressure with their jaws. It's an impressive number – and an enormous exaggeration. They bite harder than a human, but not as much harder as one could think. The average human can bite down with a 120 pound force.

Also know, can the human jaw bite through bone?

The limiting factor is that the human jawbone is made of uncooked mammalian cortical bone: clearly the human jawbone cannot bite through a thicker bone than itself, because it would break itself first.

Can a human bite kill you?

Untreated human bites may lead to more serious problems, such as swelling and infections. Severe swelling may prevent blood from flowing to your hands and feet. Infection may spread to other parts of your body and this can become life-threatening.

Related Question Answers

Dosindo Frenkel

Professional

Can a human bite through a neck?

You could bite a big chunk. And the neck is really just soft tissue and not much different from the ear. You could bite the neck, rip out the artery and it wouldn't be too difficult.

Jamaica Kruell

Professional

Can a human bite a finger off?

Bite marks of the fingers, while relatively common in assaults, do not often lead to tissue loss. Severance of a substantial length of fingertip by human teeth is rare and would require considerable force to cut through the supporting bone — see case report.

Hayate Idiaquez

Professional

Can you bite a finger off as easily as a carrot?

There are cases of fingers being bitten entirely off, but such an act requires extraordinary force, far greater than 200 newtons of carrot-cutting power. You'll still have to bite through skin, tendons, and some flesh. It's similar to trying to bite a rubber band instead of a carrot.

Kaba Slavin

Explainer

How strong is crocodile bite?

Their large jaws are very powerful. They have the strongest bite of any animal. Large crocodiles can bite down with a force of over 5,000 pounds per square inch.

Lhachmi El Hajjam

Explainer

How strong is a Cane Corso bite?

Cane Corso – 700 psi
The first of our top 3 strongest dogs, and with a substantial jump in bite strength to 700 psi, is the Cane Corso.

Libor Gstatter

Explainer

Which animal has strongest bite force?

Hippopotamus

Sharla Yavar

Pundit

How strong is a human skull?

The average human skull can withstand about 520 lbs of compression - and up to 2100 if it's not so average. The average human can squeeze at around 200 lbs.

Anselmo Orte

Pundit

What animal has the strongest bite of all time?

The saltwater crocodile may have the strongest bite ever measured, but that might be because it's been impossible to measure the killer whale's bite force with accuracy. Based on captive orca incidents it's estimated that their bite power could exceed 19,000 PSI.

Eunate Watkinson

Pundit

What happens if you bite down too hard?

A hard bite into food or excessive pressure due to grinding or clenching can cause strain on the connective tissues of your teeth. This strain may cause you to experience localized pain and discomfort. If left untreated, your pain can spread to other areas of your mouth. It could also increase your risk of infection.

Juri Sani

Pundit

What is the bite force of at Rex?

When Bates and Falkingham used computer models to simulate T. rex's bite, the result was “quite surprising,” Bates told us: a maximum bite force of almost 12,800 pounds, about the equivalent of an adult T. rex's body weight (or 13 Steinway Model D concert grand pianos) slamming down on its prey.

Vicentina Zhemlikhanov

Pundit

How strong can humans get?

Humans have a very high ratio of nerves to muscle cell. Meaning we are all capable of doing superhuman feats of strength, it's just that our brains are preventing this in order to conserve energy. An average human can only activate up to 65% of its muscle tissue, while a trained athlete can go up to 80%.

Breann Alunni

Teacher

When you bite down which teeth should touch?

First, they share the idea that the upper and lower teeth should fit together evenly, with no one tooth hitting higher than another. Also, when the upper and lower jaws move from side to side, the front teeth should touch and the back teeth should not.

Vasko Quiblier

Teacher

Do humans have the strongest bite?

Human jaws are surprisingly strong and efficient. Stephen Wroe has built a career out of analysing some of the planet's most formidable skulls. Humans, it is said, have relatively weak jaws that can't inflict or withstand high bite forces.

Bettina Sanchez

Teacher

What does a good bite look like?

In an ideal bite, the edges of the upper front teeth should be parallel to the top of the lower lip. When your bite is closed, about one-half to two-thirds of the length of your bottom teeth should show. If they overlap too much vertically, you have an overbite.

Nazir Cichosz

Teacher

Can you bite your own skin off?

People with dermatophagia—literally meaning “skin eating”—regularly experience the urge to bite their own skin. This disorder falls into the body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) family and is widely accepted as being related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Eudardo Kouba

Reviewer

How strong is a human tooth?

1. Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the body. The shiny, white enamel that covers your teeth is even stronger than bone. This resilient surface is 96 percent mineral, the highest percentage of any tissue in your body – making it durable and damage-resistant.

Raycho Bilhau

Reviewer

Do pitbulls jaws lock?

Reality: Pit Bulls do not have any special physical mechanism or enzyme that allows them to “lock” their jaws. Whatever Pit Bulls do, they do it with a great deal of enthusiasm, and it is this trait that can make it seem like they have a locking jaw when they bite down on something and are determined not to release it.

Krasen Andergassen

Reviewer

Can a pitbull kill a German shepherd?

Not likely, but your German Shepherd will try. Pit bulls have a very high pain threshhold, for one thing. They are compact, with deep muscling, which makes fighting more effective. Your German Shepherd doesn't have the bone-crushing jaw strength of the bully breeds.

Adem Erdbrugger

Reviewer

Are human jaws getting smaller?

Jawbones are 'shaped by diet', a study finds. Diet has shaped human jaw bones; a result that could help explain why many people suffer with overcrowded teeth. The study has shown that jaws grew shorter and broader as humans took on a more pastoral lifestyle.

Co-Authored By:

EveryThingWhat Staff Editor

14

14th January, 2020

31

92% of readers found this page helpful.

4.8/5

Click a star to add your vote

Similar Asks
Trending