11 Toothy Facts
Looking for ways to motivate your child to brush his or her teeth? Why not compare their teeth to those of their favorite animals?
Like people, some animals have several different kinds of teeth, while others have only one kind. Others don’t have any teeth at all! Animals’ teeth also give us clues about what they eat.
Here are 11 fun facts about the teeth of humans and animals:
- Humans form two sets of teeth over the course of a lifetime, with baby teeth being replaced by adult teeth between the ages of 6 and 12.
- An average human being has around 32 teeth. This includes four wisdom teeth, eight incisors, four canines, twelve molars and eight premolars.
- When you see a hippopotamus opening its mouth, it seems as though they have only four teeth! But they actually have 40 pearly whites.
- Dogs rarely get cavities because their saliva has an extremely high pH, which prevents demineralization.
- An elephant’s molars can weigh up to 10 lbs.
- The teeth of the pocket gopher grow up to 15 inches a year!
- The blue whale is the largest mammal on earth, but it dines exclusively on tiny shrimp because it has no teeth
- Armadillos, common in the southwest, have 104 teeth.
- Snails can have more than 25,000 teeth, which are located on the tongue.
- Dolphins only get one set of teeth to last a lifetime!
- The Tyrannosaurus Rex, or T-Rex, had more than 60 thick, conical, bone-crunching teeth that were up to 9 inches long. Its jaws were up to 4 feet long.
(Source: American Student Dental Association)
Want more fun facts? Just ask any of our dental team at your next appointment!
