The
first sign of human teeth usually occurs after about six
months of a baby’s age. The twenty primary teeth are
called deciduous or the milk teeth. These primary teeth
are gradually replaced by permanent teeth. By age
twenty, most adults will have a full set of thirty two
teeth.
Teeth
design for grinding food
While
the main purpose of teeth is to chew and grind up the
food we eat, our teeth also provides shape to our face
and help us to speak clearly. In order to properly
facilitate the main function of the teeth – i.e.
grinding of food, the teeth are uniquely designed to
serve their specific purposes. Our teeth can be divided
into the following based on the way they are used in
grinding of food –
- Incisors
and canines – used to shear and tear up food
- Premolars
and molars – used to crush and grind the food further
The
shape and sizes of our teeth are typically of ideal
dimensions to help it to carry out its purposes of
grinding food that we consume. Additionally, the teeth
enamel – the hard substance that covers the tooth – is
the hardest substance in the entire body. The hard
enamel of the teeth greatly aid in the grinding process
of food in our mouths. The upper set of teeth gets its
support from the upper jaw or the maxilla; and the lower
set of teeth is supported by the lower jaw – the
mandible. These jaw bones along with the facial muscles
and the nerves offer the requisite mechanism for the
entire process of food grinding that takes place
whenever we bite into our food.
‘Teeth
grinding’ or wrong bite can damage design of
teeth
Our
grinding teeth are uniquely structured into – the crown
(composed of the enamel and formed into well shaped
outer cusps); below the crown lie the minute fissures
that are connected to the amelodentinal junction; just
below this is the dentine which covers the pulp chamber
within. The pulp chamber contains the root canal and a
complex system of pulp vein, artery, the septum and
nerves. This entire structure of teeth is designed to
play its part in the process of grinding up
food.
Wrong
positioning of teeth (because of incorrect bite) or
chronic cases of teeth grinding can severely damage the
structure of teeth by gradually eroding the crown and
exposing the dentin and pulp within to
infection.
