Difference Between Canine & Molar Teeth

Teeth are among the most identifiable and distinguishing features in mammals. They come in different shapes and forms to achieve different goals. They are directly linked to what an animal eats: for instance, a herbivore uses canines to grind whereas a carnivore will use canines to kill and tear meat.

Canine Teeth Features

• Canine teeth are also known as cuspids, dog-teeth and fangs, and have evolved primarily for digging into and tearing flesh. Animals that hunt use them to bite down into prey that's trying to escape and to rip apart the meat so they can digest it. Most species develop four canines, one in each corner of the front of the mouth, separated by incisors. They are usually the largest teeth, which sink deep into the animal's jaw and have sharp pointed ends. They have a single root but are longer and thicker than any other tooth.

Molar Teeth Features

• Molar teeth are the rearmost teeth in the jaw and are used to grind or chew food. Due to these characteristics, they are predominately found in the mouths of herbivores. Humans usually have 12 molars in total, which are known as quadrate molars. This means they have four or five peaks normally arranged in a square or rectangle.

Tribosphenic Molar

• A tribosphenic molar is a design considered to be a combination of both a molar and canine tooth because it has a three-cusped shape. The most important features are the trigonid, which is the tearing end and the talonid which is the crushing heel. This means that this tooth has both characteristics of meat eaters and plant eaters. The debate of whether this has evolved independently in mammals, or if it evolved from the combination of marsupials and placentals, is still going on between paleontologists.

Premolar Teeth

• Premolars are considered the transitional tooth between tearing and chewing. Their shape can be considered a middle ground between molars and canines but shouldn't be confused with the tribospenic molar, because the premolar essentially has the same form as a molar. These teeth only occur in the mouths of omnivores.