Three Crazy Facts About Teeth, Across the Animal Kingdom

Baby teeth in other animals? Multiple backup molars? Tooth-specific stem cells?

Oh, sure, you have no problem brushing your teeth. Tell that to my cat, who hates it! Photo by Diana Polekhina

Despite how it reads, I promise that I’m completely sober when writing this: teeth are really weird, man.

They’re coated with the hardest substance in the entire human body. They’re one of the only parts of our body that we cannot regrow (humans, at least; more on that a little later). They have long roots that extend well below what we see, with about 1/3 of the tooth hidden. And while humans have two sets, baby teeth and adult teeth, we’re born with ALL OF THEM, more than half our total teeth waiting below the surface for their time to erupt.

That’s right. Look at a cute little baby. See his cheeks, his mouth? It’s full of teeth. So many teeth.

Today, let’s learn some cool facts about teeth. Let’s learn:

• Why do we have baby teeth, if we’re just born with the full set of adult teeth hidden in our jaws?
• Are we the only creatures with baby teeth?
• Do other animals have cool backup teeth that we don’t get?
• Have some animals unlocked the secret to UNLIMITED teeth?