Biting refers to the forceful closing of the teeth to crush food or, as in the animal kingdom, to fight back. This can result in sometimes serious injuries that can be life-threatening. Bite wounds can also quickly become infected and require appropriate treatment to prevent infection.
What is biting?
Biting refers to the forceful closing of the teeth to crush food or to fight back, as in the animal kingdom. In common usage, the word “bite” is also used as a synonym for crushing food. Mostly, however, it is used to describe an attack and injury by the teeth of a human or animal. Especially in the animal kingdom, biting is also considered a threatening gesture to drive away potential threats or competitors. Bite wounds are so-called mechanical wounds caused by the action of teeth on the skin and flesh. They resemble lacerations or puncture wounds and vary in severity depending on the attacker’s dentition. Biting can also cause the body’s own toxins to enter the victim’s organism. This is the case, for example, with snakes, which can thus kill by a targeted bite. But even without venom, wounds caused by bites can become dangerous. The contact of the teeth and the oral mucosa with the open wound quickly leads to infections. Disinfection of even small bite wounds is therefore very important. Biting involves the interaction of the chewing muscles as well as the muscles in the tongue, cheeks and lips. The teeth are also involved to varying degrees, as they crush, grind and pulverize food in the oral cavity. If diseases occur that damage the jawbone, muscles or teeth or impair their function, biting and chewing become significantly more difficult. In the worst case, food intake may cease.
Function and task
Biting fulfills important functions. With the help of the teeth, food can be divided into smaller portions and then crushed. In early phases of human history, this was the only way to eat food, since tools for crushing were still missing. Those who could not bite or bite off had to go hungry. Today, people can use knives, forks or even devices for pureeing and no longer have to rely so heavily on the strength of their teeth. Moreover, today we can have artificial dentures made if necessary. The biting process begins by positioning the food or object to be bitten between the teeth with the help of the tongue. Crushing takes place with the repeated opening and closing of the jaw. When opening, the muscles of the floor of the mouth in particular come into action, and when closing, the temporalis muscle. The rear rows of teeth, such as the molars and wisdom teeth, are used to grind food. Biting and grinding, on the other hand, is done by the incisors. If there are large gaps between the teeth, the person concerned has to use more force to bite and chew than a person with a complete set of teeth. In the context of a dispute, humans, unlike animals, bite only in emergency situations when they do not know any other way to defend themselves. In human interaction, such behavior no longer has any place, and biting is restricted to food intake. The jaw muscles play a special role in this. This is where the strongest muscles in the human body are located. The human biting force is about 80 kg (in comparison, a lion has a biting force of 560 kg) or 30 Newton. Theoretically, even higher values would be possible; however, too much biting of the upper and lower jaws causes toothache and muscle tension, which prevents the application of a greater biting force. In the animal kingdom, mutual biting is still part of everyday life. It is used to defend oneself, to fend off competitors or to kill prey. Humans, on the other hand, bite only in emergency situations when they have no other way to defend themselves. Infants under the age of two often bite each other and their parents. In this age group, this is considered normal behavior because they are just discovering their bodies and cannot yet foresee that biting can also cause pain. From kindergarten age, however, biting fellow children should be a thing of the past.In human interaction, such behavior no longer has a place, and biting is limited only to food intake.
Diseases and ailments
The biting process itself can also be affected by diseases or injuries. Damage to the teeth that makes biting difficult or impossible is particularly common in this context. Dental treatment is required to restore the defective teeth. If this is not possible due to excessive damage, a dental prosthesis can be made and inserted. This usually completely restores the biting and chewing function. If the musculature in the jaw area is diseased or injured, the important movements in biting can be made more difficult or completely stopped. This is the case, for example, with paralysis of the muscles of the floor of the mouth. If the jaw muscles tense in a painful way, irritated facial nerves may be responsible. Nighttime unconscious teeth grinding can also cause noticeable hardening of the masticatory muscles, as can grinding or even breaking of the teeth. Earaches and headaches are also among the accompanying symptoms of grinding, which is often caused by stress. When people or animals bite, they injure the skin and tissue of their counterpart with their teeth. This results in a bite wound, which can vary greatly depending on the size and tooth profile of the attacker. Most bites treated in doctors’ offices and hospitals are from dogs and cats. Dog bites often turn out to be quite extensive and also quite often have bruising and torn out wound edges. Cat bites are much smaller and more point-like, but they are deeper than comparable dog bites. This makes cat bites potentially more dangerous due to the nature of the teeth, as more germs enter the wound through them. However, human bites are the most dangerous. Although these are not too common, they carry a high risk of infection. Up to a hundred billion different germs and bacteria can be found in just one milliliter of human saliva. In addition, severe diseases such as hepatitis or HIV can be transmitted through biting. If an injury occurs as a result of a bite, the wound should always be disinfected. For very small bite wounds, this can be done at home, and with proper observation, medical treatment is not always necessary in these cases. Larger injuries, on the other hand, should always be presented to a physician. It may be necessary for the wound to be sutured after cleaning and then sterilely dressed. A sterile dressing is also advisable for bites that have been treated by the patient. This can prevent additional germs from entering the injury and causing infection. After a period of six hours, even large bite wounds are no longer sutured for this reason, as the risk of infection would be too great. After cleaning, a wound drain can also be placed to remove wound water. A so-called interactive wound dressing can also absorb wound secretions and also prevents drying out. In this way, healing can be accelerated. In addition to a high risk of infection, animal bites also carry the risk of infection with rabies or the development of tetanus (lockjaw). There is now a vaccination against rabies, which can also be given after the bite. Tetanus vaccination should occur approximately every ten years to have active vaccine protection at all times.
