Section 6

Looking At Teeth

For Use with the KS2 Science Curriculum Topic 3A

Adapted by Oral Health Promotion, Devon 2014

The four types of teeth

1. incisor

(cutting)

2. canine

(piercing)

3. premolar

( crushing)

4. molar

( grinding )

Different Jobs / Different Roles

The four types of teeth look different.

Have different shapes.

Have different roots.

Have different jobs or roles in chewing.

Do you remember what they are ?

Incisor

Used for cutting.

Incisors

When we bite the incisors come together and cut a piece of the food off.

Canine

The Roman’s called their dogs canines. Why is this a good name for this tooth ?

Canines

Canines pierce the food.

Helping to tear off pieces.

Premolar

Pre-Molar means in front of the molars. Its job is to crush things. Especially nuts. Just like this nutcracker.

Premolars

Help us eat nuts and other hard foods by crushing.

Molar

Molar is the Latin name for this grinding bowl. This is what the molar does. It grinds our food before we swallow it.

Molars

• Help grind the food into a paste before swallowing. This aids digestion.

• See how the upper and lower molars fit together. The food is ground in between them.

Wisdom

Wisdom teeth are just extra molars which grow right at the back of the mouth. They usually appear between 16 and 21 years of age.

Often the wisdom teeth come through at an angle and cause discomfort. Some do not come through at all.

This is why sometimes Wisdom teeth may need to be extracted.

Charting teeth

These are the numbers used by the dentist to name your teeth.

Baby teeth are labelled A to E.

If a letter appears on your chart you still have a baby tooth in that position and are waiting for the adult one to come through.

The Large Mouth Model

Using the large mouth model the pupils can see where the different types of teeth are in the mouth.

Milk Teeth

This girl is 7 years old. She has begun losing her milk teeth. How many milk teeth have you got left ?

Optional Experiment

• Look in a mirror and check which of your teeth are milk teeth and which are new adult ones.

• Use the ‘Map Your Mouth’ worksheet in the Resource folder to label your teeth.

With thanks to

Graeme Jones, Liverpool Dental Health Promotion