Do gentiles have more teeth than Jews? Do they have less?

There is a famous position of Aristotle.

Why have men more teeth than women?
By reason of the abundance of heat and blood which is more in men than in women.
-- "Of the Teeth.", Aristotle

And the following from Bertrand Russel:

Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths.

Bertrand Russell, Impact of Science on Society (1952) ch. 1
British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 - 1970)

As someone noted in a comment recently, Rav Kanievsky similarly believes that Jews differ physically from gentiles in the number of teeth, on the basis of a midrash Talpiyot combined with another rabbi's testimony. Midrash Talpiyot was authored by Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Avraham, and was published in 1698. There, in Anaf Aivarim, we find the following (I manipulated the images to make it fit this blog better, but did not change the text):

After a discussion of the kabbalistic significance of the 32 teeth (from כתבו), he records a tradition (from א"ה) he received that this is only for Jews, but that gentiles have 33 teeth. He contrasts this with a rishonim who say there is no physical distinction between Jews and gentiles, so that people do not say there are two reshuyot. Therefore they are physically identical and Hashem gave the heker to Jews via bris milah. A second reason, so that converts would not be embarrassed to join the Jewish people, while the whole reason for the exile is to gather converts. But if according to the first reason of two reshuyot, then there is a physical difference; according to the second reason, there is no problem, because his teeth are covered and so who will check them, or alternatively, anyone who will eventually convert could be born with 32 teeth.

He then answers (אך) according to the first reason given, of two reshuyot, that even though one person can say this, he will not persuade others, for it is only a minor difference which is covered, and if there were two deities, the difference would have been more noticeable in order to proclaim the divinity.

End summary of midrash Talpiyot.

Now, I would note that the number of teeth for Jews is exactly the right number of adult teeth, that is 32. But the weird tradition, of having 33 teeth, which is not in accord with reality, is ascribed to gentiles. Now it is quite possible that confirming or ruling out this 33 tooth tradition was impossible. What gentile would consent for the rabbi to count his teeth? And if he did, did the rabbi study teeth well enough to know for each one where one began and the next ended?

It is possible that this tradition arose out of some kabbalistic theory, given that these teeth are all given roles. It is also possible that whoever started this tradition saw one gentile who happened to have an extra tooth. Here is one woman who has 33 teeth. And here is a Wikipedia article on this condition, known as hyperdontia. And maybe in that area where the tradition started this trait was genetic, as it sometimes can be. People can have a number of supernumary teeth. But it certainly is not true of your average gentile.

Now Rav Kanievsky was asked a question, and made use of this Midrash Talpiyot, in part. The question and answer follow.

The question was:

Question: "I have heard from Rabbi Yitzchak Shinker, zatza"l, that one time there was an incident with a fatal illness, rachmana litzlan, and a great physician came and said "if he is a gentile, he will die, but if he is a Jew, he has hope, for it has been shown that this disease by Jews is not necessarily fatal." And he explained in this what we say in Tefillah, rofei cholei amo yisrael -- that there is a special healing in the Jews.

Now, it is possible that this great physician was a quack trying to market his particular treatment to a limited audience. But it is also possible that there are certain diseases which manifest differently depending on the particular genetic makeup, or respond better to treatments because of genetic makeup. Thus, for example, African-Americans do not respond as well to beta-blockers as do those of European descent. What the physician is saying is plausible. But there are likely other populations that respond better to certain treatments than would Jews.

I am also not sure what the purpose of this question was. It seems to me that the purpose was to get Rav Kanievsky's endorsement of this peshat, so that they could repeat it over in his name, with his haskamah as opposed to the less well-known Rabbi Yitzchak Shinker.

But the way to confirm this reality is not to consult rabbis, who might give other sources in rabbinic literature. To confirm this, consult with doctors! (Unless the intent is to get more force for the rofei cholei interpretation.)

At any rate, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky responded, and it was not by saying "let us consult physicians or a medical textbook." Rather, we have:

Answer: Indeed, in Midrash Talpiyot (anaf Aivarim) there is that to a gentile there are 31 teeth, while to a Jew there are 32. And the gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein related to me that there was a dentist in the United States who hated Jews, and when they brought them to him he counted the teeth, and when he found 32 he did not wish to work on them.

Rav Kanievsky unfortunately misquoted the Midrash Talpiyot, by giving the gentile one less tooth than the Jew, instead of one more.

Now it is quite possible that there is some substance to this urban legend. A dentist does indeed often count teeth, and pushes against them one by one with his dental tools. It could be that the dentist did this, and then later refused to work on a specific patient because of personality issues or insurance reasons, and the Jewish person associated the counting of the teeth with the denial of service, on the basis of the midrash Talpiyot.

But no dentist would refuse service on the basis of the number of teeth. This is not some secret that dentists know. Rather, the number of teeth is well-known, and mentioned in dental textbooks. The assign numbers to each one. And dentists are hopefully not so ill-informed as to think that only Jews have 32 teeth.

Now, Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein is Rav Chaim Kanievsky's brother-in-law, and Rav Elyashiv's son-in-law. He is no stranger to medical issues. Thus, to cite Wikipedia:

Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein is a Rov and posek in the Ramat Elchanan area of Bnei Brakand the rabbi of Mayenei HaYshua Hospital in Bnei Brak.

...

Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein is an acknowledged halachik authority and is especially renowned as an expert in Medical issues related to Halacha. His expertise is on par with that of his famous father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, and brother-in-law, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky.

I know nothing of Rav Zilberstein except for this quote from him and this Wikipedia article. If he is the rabbi of a hospital, one would hope he would have some knowledge of medicine, or be able to talk to doctors about these things. It could well be that since this is a hospital in Bnei Brak, they would not typically be servicing gentiles, and so he would have no firsthand exposure to them in a medical setting.

I also have not read any of his writings on medical issues. And admittedly, if all that you have is one mistake, you can come away with a pretty false impression of a person. Still, this does not exactly inspire confidence in his ability to ascertain the metzius.

Rav Kanievsky did something proper in consulting an accessible (his brother-in-law) person whom he considered an expert in the field of medicine to at least try to confirm a somewhat strange statement. Even so, this rabbinic statement (of 31, or 33 teeth) should strike any modern person as strange and unlikely. Rav Kanievsky presumably does not have an Internet connection in his house, so he cannot do a quick Google search. And he presumably is not really a big fan of Torah UMaddah, such that he would go to a library and consult a standard medical textbook.

But psak arises not just from a great depth and breadth of Torah knowledge, but from a knowledge of the metzius as well. If a Torah great can be this misguided about the facts on the ground (and also be misguided as to believe that the geocentric model of the universe is correct), then are they the best to pasken on issues relating to Torah and science?

There are some who are dedicated to Torah UMaddah, and their intersection. But what of those who consider Torah UMaddah to be an incorrect path, and as a result are woefully ignorant of maddah? As Chaim B. wrote in a comment about weighing the merit of different interpretations,

Agree with you 100% that the issue should be judged on its merits - but the judge should be gedolei yisrael who are experts in the field. Would you be the judge of the best method of performing brain surgery because you took a science class? Would you risk your life by saying that the conclusions of the majority of brain surgeons who lived in the past 200 years is wrong because they are all biased by modern science and you are in a better position to draw an "objective" conclusion?

But how can they really judge this, when they likely would not recognize all the places that Chazal's statements diverge from science, and quite possibly are not familiar with all the relevant sources, not really caring that much about the intersection until it becomes a hot-button issue? And should someone who does care about the issue, and has studied the various shittos deeply, and does have a better sense of just where Chazal seem to contradict science, be mevatel his daas to those who don't consider science important and therefore are not necessarily in a better position to draw an objective conclusion?

Let me add that I would not be putting this forth, which could be seen ch"v as an attack, and an attack on elu ve'elu, if not for the fact that others are declaring that it forbidden to differ from the chareidi gedolim on issues pertaining to the intersection of Torah and science.