An Artist's Study of Human Teeth
For no particular reason, except maybe to finally have something to talk to my dentist about.
As a creator, it is a defeating feeling to feel as though I don’t have a message to share. I am not enduring a hardship, nobody around me really is, and often I feel the only thing setting me apart from my family and peers is that I feel stable, normal, and content.
I rarely draw for myself, apart from school work, and when I have these last few months, all I seem to produce are teeth and I haven’t yet figured out why. At first, it was because of a fallacy that I was either told or made up myself: that teeth are the only bones in the body that you can see. This is not true; they are made up of different material, and bones are regenerative while teeth are not. How cool it would be if they were, though.
This is a curated study of teeth, specifically the anatomy, their classifications and functions, and my own illustrations. Moreover, this is an indulgence in closely studying something relatively unimportant at a time when the list of pivotal, life-threatening events seems endless and ever-present. This space acts as a moment away from it all, I suppose.
The teeth are the hardest substances in the human body. That fact alone is remarkable to me.
Humans have 32 permanent teeth, 16 on the top and the bottom jaw. This count includes the four wisdom teeth which may never come to the surface for some and are often removed altogether. The lower jaw is known as the mandible and the upper jaw is the maxilla.
Note that 32 is a standard number and that a mouth exhibiting a greater number of teeth than this is common, typically erupting far from the dental arch, within the maxillary sinus.
There are four types of teeth in the human mouth: Incisor, Canine, Premolar, and Molar. Since the jaw is split evenly into four quadrants, both jaws being symmetrical, I’ll talk about one side of one jaw. From the center of one side of the jaw there are 2 incisors, 1 canine, 2 premolars, also known as bicuspids, and 3 molars, the wisdom tooth being considered a molar. Excuse me for reminding you about wisdom teeth–I no longer have mine and I get confused when I have less teeth than the internet tells me I should have.
A formula exists to differentiate human teeth from those of other species. Keep in mind that this formula is still referring to one side of one jaw. The denomination for each tooth is represented by the first letter in its name, or I, C, P, and M. In the formula, following each letter is a horizontal line, above which the amount of each type of tooth is placed for the maxilla, and below which the amount of each is placed for the mandible.
Similar to the formula for the permanent teeth is the formula for the primary teeth, the first set of teeth we grow. These are also known as the deciduous teeth and there are 10 in total, 2 incisors, 1 canine, and 2 molars on each side of each jaw.
The Universal Numbering System of notation uses letters to classify primary teeth and numbers to classify permanent teeth. Starting with the primary teeth, the maxilla receives letters A through J, starting from the right second molar (the right side of a mouth you are looking at, one’s own left side) to the left second molar. The mandibular set of teeth use letters K through T starting with the left second molar, so the order crosses the top jaw from the right to the left, drops down, and crosses back over to the right.
The key difference between the primary and permanent teeth within this notation is the use of numbers for the permanent set, but the order remains the same. The maxillary teeth are numbered 1 through 16, 1 being the third right molar (that’s right, your wisdom tooth or, like me, your “wisdom tooth”), and 17 through 32 designate the mandibular teeth, 17 being the mandibular third left molar.
The surfaces of our teeth accommodate different functions and set the main types of teeth apart from one another. Our anterior teeth, starting from the right canine to the left canine have a single, acute edge for cutting, biting, and tearing. The length and shape of canines make them best for gripping. The premolars and molars have wider surfaces that are more uneven with pits and fissures, making them best for grinding down on food and breaking it up.
The main function of our teeth is to break down and consume food, but our speech is greatly affected by our teeth, the presence, state, or lack thereof.
The roots of our teeth vary in size, shape, and angle as well as in having a single apex or multiple extensions. Typically, the maxillary teeth, the top jaw, will exhibit more teeth with more roots than the mandibular teeth will.
The anterior teeth, maxillary and mandibular, from canine to canine, are single rooted teeth. You can see in the chart that the premolars on bottom tend to have a single root while those on the top are as likely to exhibit one root as they are two. The mandibular molars have one to two roots while the maxillary molars typically have two to three roots.
Pictured earlier in the diagram of the makeup of a tooth, the pulp chamber begins within the crown and travels into the roots, meeting the apex of the root. An opening there allows the contents of the pulp chamber to enter and exit the tooth.
This is what the skull of a child looks like, with a full set of primary teeth and permanent teeth.