Humans have two sets of teeth in their lifetime. The first set of teeth to be seen in the mouth is the Primary or Deciduous teeth, which begin to form prenatally (i.e in the womb) at about 14 weeks and is completed postnatally (i.e after birth) at about 3 years of age.

By dictionary definition the term primary can mean “constituting or belonging to the first stage in any process”. The term deciduous can mean “not permanent, transitory.The same unabridged dictionary refers the reader from the definition of deciduous tooth to “Milk Tooth” which is defined as “one of the temporary teeth that are replaced by permanent teeth.”

The First Permanent teeth begin to appear in the oral cavity at the mean age of 6, and the last emerge at a mean age of 28 + - 4 months.

The term Maxilla/Maxillary refers to the upper jaw.
The term Mandible/Mandibular refers to the Lower jaw.

What Are the Different Parts of a Tooth?

Each tooth has a crown and root portion.

Crown - The crown is the upper portion of the tooth which is seen above the gum level.
Root - The root is the lower portion of the tooth which is below/inside the gums

The root portion of the tooth is firmly fixed in the bony process of the jaw called as Alveolar Process.(The bone of the tooth is called as Alvoelus)

A fibrous joint that anchors the root of the tooth to the alveolar bone socket is known as The Periodontal Ligament. In simple terms, it is a connective tissue structure that attaches the tooth to the alveolar bone.

Morphology of “The Crown and Root”

The four tooth tissues are Enamel,Dentin,Cementum and Pulp.The first three known as hard tissues and the last as soft tissue.

The outermost layer of the crown is known as Enamel.

Enamel : It is the hardest calcified tissue of the body

The Layer Below the Enamel, Which makes up the bulk of a tooth is known as Dentin

Fact : When the dentin gets exposed due to “n” number is reasons is when we experience “jhanjhanahat” / Sensitivity .

The outer covering of the root is known as Cementum,it is a calcified structure. It forms a part of attachment apparatus in to which periodontal ligament is inserted to hold the tooth in the alveolar socket.

Pulp: The nerve supply of the tooth.
It is the soft tissue component of the tooth situated in the centre of the tooth.
It is mainly divided into two parts i.e the pulp chamber and the pulp canal.
The pulp chamber mainly lies in the crown portion and the pulp canal is in the root

What Are the Different Types of Teeth?

Humans have a total of 32 permanent teeth, 16 in the upper jaw and 16 in the lower jaw.

Humans have FOUR different types of teeth:

• Incisors
• Canines
• Premolars
• Molars

Tooth Numbering System

Now let’s divide these teeth in quadrants, RIGHT AND LEFT & UPPER AND LOWER

Upper Right: 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
Upper Left: 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Lower Right: 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41
Lower Left: 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

Incisors

The first 4 teeth in the upper and Lower jaw are known as incisors. The first two on each side are called as CENTRAL INCISORS (11,21,41,31) and the ones beside them are called as LATERAL INCISORS (12,22,42,32)

The incisors are shearing or cutting teeth. Their major function to punch and cut food material during the process of mastication(Eating).

Canine

We have 4 canines in the mouth, 2 in the upper jaw (13 , 23) (right and left) and two in the lower jaw (43 , 33) (right and left).They are commonly referred to as the cornerstones of the dental arches. They are the longest teeth in the mouth. Also called as “Vampire teeth”

Their function is to help in tearing of the food along with the incisors.

Premolars

We have a total of 8 Premolars in our mouth:

• 4 Maxillary Premolars ( Upper Right -14,15) (Upper Left- 24,25)
• 4 Mandibular Premolars (Lower Right – 44,45) (Lower Left – 34,35

The Premolars are so named because they are anterior to the molars in the permanent dentition. They function much like molars but to a lesser extent.

Molars

The back teeth are called as Molars.

We have 12 molars in our mouth:

• 6 Maxillary Molars (Upper Right – 16,17,18) (Upper Left – 26,27,28)
• 6 Mandibular Molars (Lower Right – 46,47,48) (Lower Left – 36,37,38)

Their main function of the molars is grinding of the food. Most if the chewing about 90% is done with the help of these teeth.

Wisdom Teeth – The last teeth in both the jaws are referred to as wisdom teeth “Akkal daad” (18,28,48,38). They are the last teeth to erupt in the mouth.Dentist mostly refer to them as the appendix of the mouth,as they done really help much in chewing.