You use your teeth to bite, chew, and talk countless times throughout the day. Unless something is bothersome, you probably don’t give your grill a second thought. To maintain your dental health and learn something new, gnaw on this enlightening list of ten things you may not know about your teeth!

10 Surprising Facts About Teeth

Your teeth are busy most of the day, helping you bite, chew, smile, and talk. Unless something starts to hurt or goes wrong, you probably don’t give your smile a second thought. But the more you know about your teeth, the better you can take care of your smile. Here are 10 surprising facts about teeth that you may not know.

1. A Tooth Can Emerge With a Cavity

While rare, this phenomenon is typically associated with the conditions known as natal and neonatal teeth.  According to a study done in 2023, “approximately 1 in 289 newborns are born with natal teeth, and 1 in 2,212 had neonatal teeth.”

Natal teeth are present at birth, while neonatal teeth emerge within the first two months of a child’s life. When a baby tooth develops a cavity, it is typically due to underdeveloped or weak enamel, making the tooth more vulnerable to decay.  

In some cases, these early teeth might have developed in conditions that increase the risk of cavities, such as a mother’s high sugar intake or certain medications taken during pregnancy. 

2. A Cavity is One of the Few Things Your Body Cannot Heal

The human body has an amazing ability to heal itself. For example, when you get a cut or break a bone, the body naturally begins repairing the damage. 

However, teeth are different. While early-stage tooth decay can be reversed through remineralization, once a cavity has fully formed, the tooth cannot heal itself and requires professional treatment. This is why flossing and developing good oral hygiene habits at a young age is important.  

Most people know what a cavity is, but how it gets there is less understood. To put it simply: bacteria in your mouth feed on sugar, those bacteria then produce acid as a byproduct, and that acid slowly eats away at your enamel. Once it breaks through the enamel, you have a cavity. 

Since your enamel contains no living cells, a requirement for healing to take place, it cannot regenerate or repair itself once the damage is done. And because cavities are caused by acid, without treatment they can keep growing, which is why a dentist needs to remove the decay and insert a filling in its place. 

3. A Tooth Can Grow Upside Down, Sideways, or Backward

While these growth patterns aren’t extremely common, they can significantly affect oral health and treatment. If you’re experiencing abnormal growth patterns, an AAO orthodontist can properly align your teeth to mitigate speech or bite problems.

• Upside-Down Growth: This is commonly seen with impacted teeth, particularly wisdom teeth. When a tooth develops upside down, it can lead to complications like misalignment of adjacent teeth, pain, and potential infection.
  
• Sideways Growth: Sideways tooth growth is frequently seen in wisdom teeth but can also occur in other teeth. It causes the tooth to grow at an angle instead of vertically. A tooth growing sideways can cause crowding, misalignment, and even damage to adjacent teeth.
  
•  Rotations:  There are instances where teeth can rotate 90 or even 180 degrees (backward) as they come in.  This can cause crowding, misalignment and changes in bite.
  

4. Baby Teeth Hold Space for the Permanent Teeth That Follow

One of the primary functions of baby teeth is to serve as placeholders for permanent teeth.

Each baby tooth reserves a specific space in the mouth for its corresponding permanent tooth, and maintaining this space is essential to guide the permanent tooth into the correct position. 

If a baby tooth is lost too early, the adjacent teeth can shift into the space, potentially leading to misalignment or crowding.

5. Baby Teeth are Also Known as Deciduous Teeth

Baby teeth have a formal name you might not know: deciduous teeth. The word comes from the Latin word decider, which means to “fall off”, the same root word behind “deciduous trees,” the trees that shed their leaves every fall. It is a fitting name for teeth meant to be temporary. 

Here’s a basic timeline: baby teeth start coming in around 6 months old, and most kids have all 20 by age 3, 10 on top and 10 on the bottom. These temporary teeth are very important for child development, helping kids chew, learn to speak, and hold space for permanent teeth to follow. Around age six, baby teeth begin to fall out one by one, with the process wrapping up around age 12. 

6. Teeth by the Numbers: We Get Two Sets, 20 Deciduous (Baby) Teeth and 32 (Usually) Permanent Teeth

Most people have two sets of teeth in their lifetime. The first set, baby teeth, consists of 20 teeth: 8 incisors, 4 canines, and 8 molars. The permanent set consists of 32 teeth: 8 incisors, 4 canines, 8 premolars, and 12 molars.

Not everyone ends up with the standard amount, though. Some people are born missing one or more teeth that never develop, while others may develop extra teeth beyond the normal number, known as supernumerary teeth.

Missing or extra teeth are more common than people realize, and both affect spacing and bite alignment in ways that orthodontic treatment can address.

7. Vaping and E-Cigarettes Pose a Real Risk to Your Teeth

If the highly addictive nicotine content wasn’t enough, vaping carries significant risks for your oral health, and the research has grown significantly stronger in recent years. While vaping devices are usually marketed as safer alternatives to traditional tobacco products, studies now show that people who vape are significantly more likely to have untreated cavities than non-vapers. Here’s what’s happening in the mouth:

• Sweet flavors feed harmful bacteria. While many flavoring agents in e-liquids used in e-cigarettes and vapes do not contain sugar, they do contain other sweeteners that can promote the growth of cavity-causing bacteria in the mouth. Whether it’s leaving a sticky residue on teeth that contributes to more plaque build-up or shifting the environment in your mouth in ways that favor harmful bacteria, these ingredients can increase the risk of tooth decay. 

• Liquid base causes dry mouth. Propylene glycol, the common solvent used as a base in many vapes and e-cigarettes, is what contributes to the common side effect of intense dry mouth. Not only is having a dry mouth uncomfortable, but it also creates an environment for a host of oral health issues. This is because saliva is one of your most powerful natural defenses against cavities. Anything that decreases the amount of saliva in your mouth can impact your oral health.

8. Not All Back Teeth Are Called “Molars”

While molars are responsible for grinding and crushing food during chewing, premolars are the teeth that sit between your canines (the pointed ones) and your molars. Most adults have 8 premolars, four on top and four on the bottom.  They are sharp enough to tear through food, yet flat enough to grind it down. 

What makes premolars interesting is that they are the only permanent teeth that don’t replace a baby teeth. A baby’s teeth don’t include premolars. When their molars fall out, premolars move into their place. 

Since the permanent teeth that replace baby teeth aren’t the same size, this transition period is when crowding or spacing issues can often first appear, which is why AAO recommends a check-up by age 7. 

9. Diet Soda and Sports Drinks Can Be as Tough on Teeth as Regular Soda

While diet sodas and beverages may have less sugar than regular soda, they can be just as detrimental to oral health as the non-diet versions. The main reason: high acidity. 

Diet soda and sports drinks still contain acidic compounds such as phosphoric and citric acids. While these are added to enhance flavor and shelf life, they can also erode tooth enamel over time. Frequent consumption of acidic beverages also reduces salivary flow, which is important for oral health. Saliva plays a crucial role in neutralizing acids and remineralizing enamel, so anything that reduces it removes a natural line of defense against tooth decay.   

A few simple tricks for consuming these beverages include using a straw to reduce contact with teeth, rinsing the mouth with water after drinking, and chewing sugar-free gum to stimulate saliva production.

10. The Part of the Tooth You See, the Crown, Is Only About a Quarter to a Third of the Entire Tooth

When you smile in the mirror, you’re only seeing part of your teeth. The visible portion of a tooth, the crown, makes up just one-quarter to one-third of the tooth’s total length. The rest of your tooth is called the root, which is anchored in the jawbone beneath your gums, where you can’t see it. 

The root also does more than hold the tooth in place. A network of tiny fibers surrounds it, called the periodontal ligament. It’s what cushions your tooth against chewing forces, and it’s what makes orthodontic tooth movement possible. When braces or aligners apply gentle pressure, it’s this ligament that allows teeth to move safely through the bone over time. 

Create a Healthy Bite with an AAO Orthodontist

Your teeth do a lot more than you think, and now with these facts, you can amaze your friends and family with your dental trivia knowledge. But knowing about your teeth is just the start. 

Healthy, properly aligned teeth are critical contributors to your overall health in ways that go well beyond a great smile. If you have concerns about misalignment, bite problems, or how your teeth have developed over time, an AAO orthodontist can help.

AAO Orthodontists are specialists who not only complete dental school but have completed additional years of training in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics. This extra training makes a real difference in the quality of care you receive. Use our online locator to find an AAO orthodontist near you and schedule your consultation today.

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