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If you ’ve ever nibbled at your fingernails while bored , your thought may have turned to a dark possibility worthy ofStephen King . What if you keep nibble ? What if you started burn ? Would it be anatomically and psychologically possible to bite your own digit off ? What about someone else ’s finger’s breadth ?
It ’s aquestionthat has consumed TikTok , where some argue bite a finger is as well-situated as crunching through acarrot . In reality : Yes , you probably can devour a finger , but it ’s not comparable to chomp on a veggie , and erode on your own figure would require a satisfying commitment to scorch pain . Let ’s hear from an expert .
A Game of Bones
Unlike chomp to soft tissue , like an ear lobe , biting through a finger’s breadth requires tooth to address thefinger bones , called phalanx ( plural ) or phalanx ( singular ) . While it ’s not terribly hard to bite through arteries , tendons , and skin , the bones of the manus are sturdy . “ They ’re probably the sizing of a small Sharpie in width,”Karan Desai , MD , a hand operating surgeon at Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute , tell Mental Floss . “ The three of them are connected by joints . They ’re pretty thick , honestly . Maybe a centimeter . It ’s hard os . The young you are , the harder they are . ”
It ’s still potential to champ through them , according to Desai , though it ’s certainly easy for animals other than humans . “ We see it more often in animal bites , ” he says , citing alligators as one of the perpetrators in his pattern . ( It ’s Florida , after all . ) “ It make quite a bit of force to completely cut off a digit . We do have a long ton of dog bites that induce complete amputation of the fingers . So , it ’s possible [ for a human ] but you ’d have to have someone who is fairly savage to bite with that kind of military group . ”
For that reason , finger amputation — know as fingerbreadth avulsions — are most commonly seen when an assailant is capable to seize with teeth into the spliff tie the phalanx , avoid the task of having to bite light through a bone . “ It would be a set easier to bite off through a joint . If you were to bite through pearl , you ’d have to fracture the pearl and then rip it off . That would definitely be hard to do , ” Desai says .
Finger Food
Desai has see passel of human bite cases affect fingers , and they ’ve also been well publicized in media . In September 2009 , a 65 - year - old human name William Rice wasparticipatingin a presentation in Thousand Oaks , California , advocating against authorities health care reform . exponent of the reform were also present . One thing led to another , and , as Rice would later accept to police , he happen upon a Isle of Man in the face . “ I pop him in the nose , ” Rice state the press .
The man did not take it lightly . A scuffle ensued , and soon Rice determine himself bleeding from his mitt and gaze at his own severed pinky finger , which had been bitten uncontaminating off .
Similar cases have beenreportedin Fargo , North Dakota , where a bar patron was accused of taking off the tip of a barkeep ’s finger in 2022 ; Plymouth , Massachusetts , where a golf player had one of his digitschomped offon the 18th hole in 2018 ; and in Tavares , Florida , where a man in a parkbit offthe victim ’s finger up to the knuckle joint in 2022 .
For those look for visual evidence , there ’s a 1999case studyin theBritish Dental Journal , where it was reported that a taproom scrap resulted in an avulsion . ( Be forewarned that a photo of a severed finger with train neurovascular pile is far from appetizing . )
When such attacks pass , Desai says , the severing is in all probability because of biting down with molar rather than the canine or incisor ( front ) teeth . “ Molars serve more to squash . The canines and incisor in the front can probably serve to bite through tissue . You need to go through hide , soft tissue paper , the tendons , and then clamp down and deplumate the rest period . It would be pretty difficult to use the eyetooth and incisor to bite all the manner through the bone , as well . You would need to be shoot . ”
Single Digit Improvement
sting off a finger , then , is hardly like seize with teeth through a carrot . It ’s more of a clamp - and - tear movement , which leave in a messy trauma that can be difficult to treat . “ It ’s prognosticate replantation , replant the finger , ” Desai say . “ If you think about cutting your finger with a sushi tongue , and it ’s abridge powerful through , there ’s a much high-pitched hazard of success versus something torn or bite off . That pulls it out , elongate the small rip vessels , and makes reconstruction of the vessels hard . ”
One reward of human over animal morsel : human do n’t usually eat the finger’s breadth , make reattachment a possibility . According to Desai , surgeons will attempt replantation if the finger is life-sustaining to the hand , like a thumb . If it ’s non - critical or only a small part , some surgeons may opt to focus on controlling infection — a gamey - risk complicatedness for human and animal bites — rather than a function .
If they do , restoring full function is unbelievable ; touch sensation will also be impaired . The goal with such surgery is to bushel enough sensation so a mortal can be alarm to burning or pain sensation .
If you have to have a digit sting off , opt for the exponent . “ It ’s relatively spendable , ” Desai say . “ It ’s nice to have , but if you lost it , the in-between finger compensates very well . It takes on the role of the power finger . The band and small fingerbreadth are used for fascinate . If you make a tight fist and your fingers are digging into your medal , the index and middle do all right move with the thumb . If you lose your indicant , the midsection can still do a fine motion , like keep a pencil or pen . ”
Can You Bite Off Your Own Finger?
While hardly satisfactory societal behavior , bite off someone ’s finger is substantially unlike from biting off one ’s own . Desai has n’t control it and is unsettled about how that might look .
“ It ’s potential , ” he says . “ I ’d have a high suspicion of psychiatric chronicle when it comes to biting your own finger off . If you ’re entirely there and have no psych problems , the pain you ’d feel would instantly stop you from going any further . You could n’t go through the move of the entire bite . But if you ’re not normal in the sense of being under the influence of something , it ’s potential . ”
