Teeth - Some Facts to Chew On

chewing is the first step in digestion which is the process of breaking down food into a form your body can use when all your permanent teeth have grown in usually by age 25 you will have 32 teeth to do the job of chewing you already have some of these permanent teeth other permanent teeth will come in as you grow and as you lose the primary teeth or baby teeth that you grew as a young child there are four types of permanent teeth incisors cuspids bicuspids and molars each type has a different shape to do a special job incisors are the front teeth there are eight of them four in each jaw they have sharp straight edges that cut off bites of food incisors enable you to eat corn on the cob or bite into an apple your permanent incisors grow in when you're between six and nine years old the four teeth next to the incisors are called cuspids that's because each tooth has one sharp point or cusps cuspids work with the incisors to bite into coarse food then the cuspids tear the food into small pieces permanent cuspids come in when you're nine to twelve years old next to the cuspids are eight permanent teeth called bicuspids they have two small cusps which break up and crush food into still smaller bits bicuspids grow in when you're 10 to 12 years old