All About Your Teeth

One of the things that we need to take care of in ourselves is our set of teeth. Our teeth need regular brushing and cleaning to keep healthy and attractive. But do you know the different kinds of teeth that we have? How about the parts of our tooth?

From birth until the age of six or seven, the teeth are still called baby teeth. Also known as milk teeth, these teeth are just temporary and they normally fall out on their own when the permanent teeth are starting to appear. There are more permanent teeth than baby teeth.

The different kinds of teeth are the following:

- Incisors. These are the front teeth which are the sharpest of all as they are built to cut the food we eat and send it inside the mouth.

- Canine. These are the teeth that can be found on both corners of the mouth. Canine teeth have very long roots. They are built to grasp and tear foods easily.

- Premolars. These are located just behind the canine teeth. The purpose of these teeth is for crushing food.

- Molars. These are the last set of teeth at the back of the mouth. They are bigger than premolars and they are meant to chew and grind food into tiny pieces.

In a complete set of baby teeth, the different kinds of teeth are central incisors, lateral incisors, canines, and first and second molars. With permanent teeth, the baby teeth parts are still present with the addition of first and second premolars and a third molars or wisdom teeth.

The two main parts of a tooth are the crown and the root. These two parts meet just below the gum margin. An overview of these two and other parts of a tooth are as follows:

- Crown. This is the part of a tooth that is visible in the mouth. The crown is made of the enamel, dentine and the pulp chamber.

- Enamel. This is the white covering of the crown. Enamel is the hardest part of the body and it does not have nerve supply or blood supply. It takes the shape of cusps, pits and fissures in premolar and molar teeth.

- Dentine. This is the hard material that forms majority of the tooth. It is cream-colored and covered by cementum on the roots and enamel on the crown. Dentine serves as the protective material for the nerves and blood vessels.

- Pulp. This part is basically the nerve and blood vessels of the tooth. It occupies the root canals and pulp chamber in the crown. The pulp dies and will cause severe pain if exposed to infection through decay or injury. In order to save the pulp, root canal treatment is done.

- Roots. This is the part of the tooth embedded in the tooth socket. Cementum covers the roots and the periodontal ligament holds it in place. A tooth can have one to three roots depending on which tooth it is.

- Cementum. This is a thin calcified covering of the dentine of the roots and is attached to the periodontal ligament.

- Periodontal ligament. This part of the tooth connects the roots to the alveolar bone of the jaw. This provides an elastic cushion between the tooth and the bone.

Teeth are essential part of our body. A permanent tooth grows only once. Should a permanent tooth decay and needs to be extracted, there won't be another teeth that will grow in the same position. A dental procedure needs to be done to replace that lost tooth. Thus, proper care should be done with our teeth to preserve them.

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