Originally Posted by
soyabean
Why does everyone think curbs are perfect with straight edges?
And for those that didn't know, rocks in the park are also just as imperfect.
"Unlikely" doesn't mean "impossible". But since the typical chainring spacing is about 5mm - and the large chainring protrudes farther towards the ground and is outboard - it would almost certainly take an incident involving relatively unusual geometry to damage a single tooth on the middle chainring without also damaging the large chainring next to it.
Yeah, it could happen. But that's not a bet the proverbial "smart money" would make.