These strange cases were years apart and documented in The Dental Cosmos, the first major journal for American dentists, by a man called WH Atkinson. The patient was a clergyman and reported such intense agonizing pain coming from his teeth it made him slowly lose his mind. All his suffering, however, disappeared abruptly after hearing a loud crack coming from his teeth.
Another case followed thirteen years after to a similar end. The patient’s name was Mrs Letitia D, who reported the same symptoms, followed by relief just after a sudden crack of her teeth. Yet another instance happened in 1871 to a young woman treated by an American dentist J Phelps Hibler, who reported that the explosion of her molar was so strong it almost knocked her over and caused hearing loss for a few days afterwards.
There were a few more of these cases afterwards, but after the 1920s, there were no more documented cases of this curious condition, and to this day there are speculations about what could have possibly caused these explosions. The dentists were aware of cases where teeth would crack or shatter because of a sugary diet or due to extremely low temperatures. In the case of teeth explosions, however, they couldn’t find a plausible explanation for.
Atkinson came up with two possible causes – the pressure from a build-up of a substance called ‘free caloric’, which has been immediately ruled out, or pressure from the gas inside the tooth caused by decay.
The third possibility laid in the metals dentists used to fill cavities. According to Andrea Sella, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at University College London, using two different metals together could cause an electrochemical to form, turning the whole mouth into a low-voltage battery. The mixture of metals would create spontaneous electrolysis, and with the filling not done well, a part of the cavity remained, causing a build-up of hydrogen within a tooth. Consequently, the weakened tooth bursts under the pressure and the built-up hydrogen could even cause a small explosion. However, even Sella admits that kind of scenario is far-fetched and unlikely.
To this day, the cause for this mystery is unclear. It is possible that the patients’ symptoms could have simply been overexaggerated or inaccurate, but for now, we can only ponder over the true answer.