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About your teeth and mouth

WHAT ARE TEETH MADE OF?

All teeth are structured in the same way. The part you can see in your mouth above the gum line is called the crown, and the part that goes down below the gum line, anchoring the tooth into the jaw, is called the root.

Teeth are composed of three key materials:

  1. Enamel covers the crown of the tooth. It is a white, very hard mineral substance made mainly from calcium and phosphate. Enamel needs to be extremely hard to withstand the forces of biting and chewing as well as changes in temperature between hot and cold foods or drink. In fact, not only is it the hardest substance in your body, but enamel is one of the hardest naturally occurring substances on earth.

  2. Dentin makes up the bulk of the tooth and lies just under the enamel. It is yellowish and is made of similar materials to enamel, although it is not as hard. It is protected by the enamel, and in turn protects the pulp of the tooth (see below). The dentin is sensitive, so when tooth decay reaches the dentin, this can start causing pain.

  3. Pulp forms the core of the tooth and contains all the nerves and blood supply to nourish the dentin. If tooth decay reaches the pulp of a tooth, it can result in a nasty infection and abscess.

TYPES OF TEETH

Teeth are essential for chewing, biting and speaking. We have several different types of teeth in our mouths, and each has a different job to do:

  1. The incisors: teeth at the very front, four on top, four at the bottom. These are the first teeth to appear in babies and also the first milk teeth to fall out. They are replaced by permanent (adult) incisors. These are used to grab and cut food.

  2. The canines: next to the incisors, one on each side of the mouth at the top and bottom (four in total). Being sharp, they can tear through food.

  3. Premolars: The next teeth back from the canines, two on each side at the top and bottom (that makes eight in total). There are no premolars in milk teeth; they are only found in the permanent set of teeth. The premolars take the place of the primary (baby) molars when they fall out from nine years onwards. Premolars are square and crush food.

  4. Molars: these are the large, square chewing teeth at the back of the mouth. In a set of milk teeth, there are eight of them, which will be replaced by premolars. The adult molars appear in the mouth behind all the milk teeth: the first molars come out at around six years of age, one on each side of the mouth, top and bottom, the next set come out at around the age of 12. Finally the four wisdom teeth come out sometime between the late teens to mid-twenties (if at all).


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*The FDI recognises that twice daily brushing with fluoride toothpaste is beneficial to oral health.