Teeth

Healthy teeth are essential for a beautiful smile. Teeth are however very important for other processes as well. They are irreplaceable in processing food (chewing and swallowing), they help people to create sounds, e. i. help them to speak, and last but not least they play an important role in forming the shape of face.

There are two types of teeth in the life of a human being. In childhood the mouth is filled with twenty primary teeth. Eight incisors, four canine teeth, and eight molars. They start to erupt when the child is a baby, e. i. around five – eight months of age and last until the 5th to 12th year of age. Compared with permanent teeth, primary teeth have much smaller roots, and are smaller in overall size, they are whiter, with bluish enamel.  

Primary or milk teeth are gradually replaced by permanent teeth. Adults can have up to 32 permanent teeth. Their definite number depends mainly on the fact if the so-called wisdom teeth (third molars) will erupt. Altogether, an adult person has eight incisors, four canine teeth, eight premolars and eight to twelve molars.

What does the tooth consist of?

If we describe the composition of the tooth in the vertical, top-down direction, there are two basic parts, the crown and one or more roots. They are interconncted with the neck of the tooth. Inside the tooth is a cavity filled with dental pulp being a common name for nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue of the tooth.

When describing the tooth in the horizontal, left to right direction, there is enamel (surface of the crown), dentin (represents the biggest portion of the tooth) and dental cementum (surface of the root). Did you know that enamel, covering the crown, is the hardest tissue in the human body? The tooth is fixed in/to the bone with the periodontium.