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Hi.

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What if I told you
that people actually

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pay thousands of dollars to
have a part of their body

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intentionally
modified-- and it's one

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that we can see every day?

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In other words, people modify
their teeth to be straight.

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This is called
orthodontic braces.

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I'm sure many people are
already familiar with them

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from adolescence, but what
actually happens in your mouth

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while your teeth
are being moved--

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there's a process called bony
remodeling that's happening,

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and it's really
pretty fascinating.

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As your teeth are
moved, your jaw actually

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partially dissolves
around the tooth

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to accommodate its new position.

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But then instead
of floating away,

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there's another process
in your body mediated

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by cells called osteoblasts
that actually build up

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your bone around the
new tooth's position.

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This process happens
throughout our entire bodies,

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and scientists and
engineers are exploiting

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these really fascinating
properties of our bodies

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to build better implants
for when, for example,

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parts of our body or
parts of our skeleton

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are wearing out as we age.