Where There Is No Dentist 2012
Why Do Some Teeth Look Different? THE IDEA: We need two different kinds of teeth to help us eat our food.
Front teeth. Another name for them is incisors. Their sharp edge cuts food into pieces.
Back teeth are called molars. They chew and grind pieces of food into bits small enough to swallow. The outside of a tooth is the hardest and strongest part of your body. When a tooth is healthy, it can chew hard food, even bone. The shape of a tooth allows us to swallow food when the small pieces can slide down its smooth sides. Small bits of food often get caught inside deep lines, or grooves, in a tooth.
Food that is not cleaned away from the grooves can make a cavity (hole) in them.
Look for them on the top and the sides of back teeth.
A tooth with a cavity is weak and often hurts.
39
