Facts About Human Teeth

Teeth serve a very important function, and are linked in both direct and indirect ways to our health. Human teeth are designed to accommodate the human diet, and are crafted to handle their jobs with efficiency and precision.

Function

• Human teeth are designed to tear food of all types and textures into pieces small enough to swallow. Chewing is the first step in the process of digestion.

Numbers

• Children have 20 baby (or "milk") teeth. Baby teeth help to hold the place for adult teeth and to guide their growth. Adults have 32 total teeth.

Types

• Humans have four types of teeth: incisors, which have sharp edges for cutting food, canines (or eyeteeth), which are pointed and used for tearing food; bicuspids (or "pre-molars"), which grind food, and molars, which do the most vigorous and difficult chewing.

Outer Tooth Layers

• The outermost layer of the human tooth is made up of a clear, hard substance called enamel. Beneath the enamel is a hard mineral substance called dentin.

Tooth Core

• The core of a tooth is called the pulp. The pulp contains the tooth's blood vessels and nerves.

Tooth Parts

• The visible, top part of the tooth is called the crown, and the parts beneath the gum line are called the roots.