Human tooth sharpening

Ota Benga, a famous Congolese pygmy, shows off his sharpened teeth.
A man with filed teeth (probably Mentawai) smokes in a photograph by Dutch photographer Christiaan Benjamin Nieuwenhuis who worked in Sumatra

Human tooth sharpening is the practice of manually sharpening the teeth, usually the front incisors. Filed teeth are customary in various cultures. Many remojadas figurines found in parts of Mexico have filed teeth and it is believed to have been common practice in their culture. The Zappo Zap people of the Democratic Republic of Congo are believed to have filed their teeth.

Historically it was done for spiritual purposes, with some exceptions, but in modern times it is usually aesthetic in nature as a form of body modification.[1]

  1. ^ DeMello, Margo (2007). Encyclopedia of Body Adornment (Illustrated ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-313-33695-9.