Do teeth really do a "popcorn thing" if they get too hot?

I just watched it and was wondering the same thing.

Yes, this is true, the crowns explode when heated much like popcorn will

Reference http://www.neiu.edu/~circill/F495X.pdf page 92, Paragraph 2

@DrBill Thanks! Awesome….. and gross. Awesomely gross!

I guess they do- in my experience, we never heated anything to that extent.

Yes, they do. Sort of. If you google this, you will find several studies that have been conducted….to determine whether teeth exposed to extreme heat can still be used for DNA identification.
According to two studies, the dentin and the root of the tooth are not broken down completely in extreme heat, allowing for DNA to still be extracted.
But…as for the popcorn thing….there is a great video on youtube called “hot tooth” in which a guy puts a welder’s torch (?) to one of his baby teeth from childhood. It does, indeed, appear to cook and ‘mushroom’ like a kernel of popcorn popping….but ultimately, it looks like a melted pearl more than anything. Still, it does look popcornish at times during the process.
:)
P.s. I just watched that BB episode last night….and then looked it up online this morning. I found all this info in a googly search. FYI.

@Sunfedchild,

> it looks like a melted pearl more than anything

Never thought about this before, but now I’m wondering: is there a market—in particular, a jewelry market—for extracted teeth and lost baby teeth? Are they in fact used in jewelry?