What Is a Tooth Made of?

You use your teeth every single day for chewing and speaking, but have you ever wondered what teeth are actually made of? The natural whiteness and hard surface might have made you think they are made of bone, but in fact they are much more complicated than that. The complexity of a tooth is something special and comprises the hardest substance in your body, even harder than your bones.

Before we talk about what makes up the insides of teeth, lets talk about the different kinds of teeth in your mouth.

Different Types of Teeth

Take your tongue and rub all around the inside and outside of your teeth, you should feel quite and assortment of different sizes and shapes on the top and bottom of your jaw. That is because each tooth is made to perform certain tasks. The different kinds of teeth are:

• Incisors
• Canines
• Premolars
• Molars
• Third molar (Wisdom Teeth)

Layers of Teeth

Even though teeth may have different types and shapes, they are all comprised of the same structure on the inside. There are 4 different layers that make up the whole tooth. Each layer serves an important purpose that keeps your teeth and smile healthy.

• Enamel
• Dentin
• Cementum
• Pulp

Enamel

Enamel is the outermost layer of the tooth and protects the tooth by keeping it free of decay. It is made of a strong mineral that can strengthen and grow back if decay has started to form. Certain minerals like fluoride will promotes positive enamel growth.

Dentin

Below the enamel is a substance called dentin. Dentist is comprised of a hard, calcified, and living tissue that keeps the overall structure of your tooth intact. Dentin communicates with the nerves of your teeth, so when enamel isn’t there to protect the dentin, you will start to feel pain that wasn’t there before.

Cementum

Cementum is the part of your tooth that protects the root inside your gums. It makes sure your root is secured inside your gums and adheres to the socket in your jawbone. It is not covered by enamel like the top part of your tooth, which makes it very sensitive to heat and cold when gums have receded too far.

Pulp

At the very heart of the tooth is a layer of soft tissue that provides a path for your blood vessels and nerves to flow freely from the root to the crown. This soft tissue is called the pulp. Pulp keeps your tooth alive and healthy.

You can see that teeth are complicated and a lot goes into their structure. It’s important to keep every layer of your tooth in good shape so that all the working parts function as they were intended.