Human Tooth Sharpening
Here again, with the Zappo Zap people, we come to the Spanish word for shoe.
In my book, Gold ‘n Silver, the modification of human teeth is tied directly to humans imitating and doing battle with vampyre and werewolves. While I am not sure the context yet, I recall hearing or saying, “give him his teeth.”
https://pages.ucsd.edu/~gbraswel/docs/2009a.pdf
At this time it appears that Africa may have been the source of teeth sharpening and that it spread with trade and slavery. Although the practice was not exclusive to cannibals, it seems travelers were warned that cannibalistic tribes were the most common to sharpen their teeth. In addition to Africa, I have found source material indicating teeth filing was also quite prevalent among some tribes in Malaysia, as was cannibalism. There has been evidence found of the practice of teeth filing in a location in Mexico and also other parts of Asia. In China, “Fang” means “square,” or “four-sided.” Another common practice was staining or blackening the teeth on purpose.
