[Avodah] Why is the tooth different from all other body parts?

[Cantor Wolberg]

- Nazir 51a

When one comes into contact with a human corpse he becomes ritually
impure, even if the contact is with only a portion of the corpse. The
exceptions to this rule are the teeth, hair and fingernails and
toenails that have become detached from the corpse.

The rule regarding teeth helps explain what Rabbi Yochanan did when he
went to comfort mourners. In order to express his empathy with their
grief he pulled out of his pocket a small object that he said was a
remnant of the tenth son he had buried in his lifetime.

Rashi (Berachot 5b) understood this object to be a bone, but of so tiny
a size that it did not cause one to become ritually impure. The Sefer
Aruch, however, defines the object as a tooth which, once detached from
the corpse, no longer causes such impurity.

Does anyone know WHY the detached tooth doesn't cause impurity?

There's an old saying: "If you're not true to your teeth, they'll be  
false to you."  But it doesn't say "They'll be tamei."

Kol tuv.
ri
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