Tooth by Tooth

TOOTH by TOOTH COMPARING FANGS, TUSKS, AND CHOMPERS SARA LEVINE ILLUSTRATIONS BY T.S SPOOKYTOOTH

OPEN WIDE! Look at all those chompers in there. Did you know your teeth are unusual? It's true! That's because you're a mammal. Lots of animals have teeth, but mammal teeth come in different shapes and sizes. Mammals have three kinds of teeth. Take a look in a mirror and see if you can find them in your own mouth.

Do you see the flat teeth in front? Those are your incisors. If you haven't lost any recently, you should have four on top and four on the bottom. How many do you have?

Next to your incisors are sharp, pointy teeth. They're called canine teeth, and you have four of them in there, unless the tooth fairy visited not too long ago.

Now open up really, really wide. Way in back are your molars. You may have a lot to count in there. Depending on their age, people have anywhere from zero to twenty molars. If you are over three years old, you'll probably have at least eight. BROCCOLI INCISOR MOLAR CANINE

Other mammals also have incisors, canines, and molars. You can tell a lot about what a mammal eats if you look at which type of teeth are the largest in its mouth. Imagine that your incisors were longer than your other teeth. What kind of animal would you be if they were long enough to stick out of your mouth, even when it was closed?