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Welcome to your mouth. Journey with us and discover the what, where, why, and how of this amazing mechanism.

The Mouth
Your teeth are equipped with some truly amazing properties.

Amazing Mouth Facts:

  • Your mouth can withstand temperatures of up to 117 degrees Fahrenheit - more if small amounts of air are taken in at the same time.
  • Your mouth is as unique as a fingerprint, from the pattern of your teeth to the size and shape of your tongue.
  • A healthy adult mouth has at least 28 teeth, 32 including wisdom teeth - that means 160 surfaces!
  • Even identical twins have different teeth.

Between Teeth
Imagine a cave, as big as a football stadium. It's the space between your teeth, seen from a microscopic point of view.

Amazing Mouth Facts:

  • Teeth are alive. They can absorb fluoride from toothpaste, which aids the body's natural repair process for teeth - remineralization.
  • Dentin - the material underneath the enamel, is softer than enamel and gives your teeth the ability to withstand tremendous amounts of pressure without fracturing.
  • More than 40% of your tooth surface is located where you can't even see it - between your teeth.
  • Remineralization occurs naturally when weakened teeth absorb minerals from saliva and toothpaste to help re-strengthen enamel.

The Tongue
Just think of everything the tongue helps you do; taste, swallow, even speak.

Amazing Mouth Facts:

  • Ever had the doctor tell you to stick out your tongue? Tongue health and color are signs of overall health and wellness.
  • Human saliva is 98% water, but it also contains important substances that fight bacteria and help the mouth heal.
  • There are more than 600 salivary glands located throughout the mouth.
  • Did you know it takes up to eight muscles to move your tongue?
  • Seventy to seventy-five percent of what we perceive as taste actually comes from our sense of smell.
  • Other ways your amazing mouth helps you enjoy food: Receptors convey the smoothness, texture, and crunchiness of food, as well as detect the temperature of solids and liquids.
  • Taste buds allow us to perceive bitter, salty, sweet, and sour flavors.

The Teeth
Teeth are body's hardest, most durable substance. Let's take a closer look at them. There are four types of teeth, and each has its own special purpose.

These, are the incisors. They help cut food as it enters the mouth.

Amazing Mouth Facts:

  • Baby teeth usually come in on the bottom and in the front first, at about 6 months of age.
  • You were born with 48 teeth - all the teeth you will need in your lifetime. At birth, your baby teeth and permanent teeth are in a developing stage, hidden underneath your gum line.
  • Children usually lose their first baby teeth around the age of 6.
  • Children usually have 20 baby - or milk - teeth by age 2-3.

Canines, the pointed teeth on each side of your mouth, tear food.

Amazing Mouth Facts:

  • The average human bite force is 162 pounds.
  • Enamel has roughly the same hardness as a steel knife.
  • As hard as your teeth are, they still have the ability to flex and move when you chew.

Pre-molars, like these teeth here, grind and mash food.

Amazing Mouth Facts:

  • Brush for two full minutes. Most people only brush for about 45 seconds! Brushing longer not only helps remove more plaque, it also means your teeth are exposed to the protective ingredients in toothpaste for longer.
  • Talk to your dentist about the right toothpaste for you. Even toothpastes with the same kind and amount of fluoride can provide different levels of protection.
  • Protect your teeth by brushing twice a day. The regular use of a fluoride toothpaste protects your teeth and helps your teeth absorb the strengthening minerals from saliva better.
  • Tartar can only be removed with special tools during a dental cleaning - another reason to be sure you see your dentist every six months.

Molars, the big teeth at the back of the mouth, are responsible for chewing.

Amazing Mouth Facts:

  • Because of dentin's absorbent qualities, foods like coffee, tea, and berries can all stain teeth - not on the outside, but on the inside too.
  • If you're right-handed, you probably tend to chew food on the right side of your mouth and if you're left-handed, you tend to chew food on the left.

Wisdom teeth, located furthest in the back of the mouth, are actually another set of molars, which some of us get, and some of us don't.

Amazing Mouth Facts:

  • Scientists are working on methods that might one day allow us to regrow lost teeth!
  • It is believed that thousands of years ago, a rougher diet meant teeth got worn down and lost more often. Wisdom teeth grew in to take their place.
  • Wisdom teeth are so called because they develop later than your other teeth when you are older and wiser!

The Gumline
These are the gums, part of the foundation for your amazing mouth. The entire gumline is more than a foot and a half long.

Amazing Mouth Facts:

  • Like skin, the gums regularly replace their cells.
  • Saliva helps wash away food and plaque from the teeth and also helps to neutralize acids in the mouth that harm tooth enamel.
  • When gums are healthy, they form a tight seal to the tooth that helps to limit the places that bacteria can hide.