It is always fun to have fun facts you can share with friends. While you may not think fun facts apply to the world of dentistry, this is not true. Dr. Diem Do and the team at Smile in Style, Diem Do DDS in Marrero, Louisiana love to share fun facts with patients. Not only does it lighten the mood for patients who may be nervous about their dental appointment, but some facts may actually prove helpful. Let us look at some fun facts about teeth that you may (or may not!) know.

1. Teeth do not always grow the same. They can grow upside down or backward. This unique situation can occur when crowding occurs or when your baby teeth do not fall out on schedule, leading to a shift of your adult teeth in the jawbone.
2. A tooth can have a cavity before it ever breaks through the gums. That happens if a child has gum disease and bacteria is allowed to sink into a periodontal pocket. These bacteria will linger and affect adult teeth that have not surfaced yet!
3. When looking at a healthy, beautiful smile, you only see about a third of every tooth. Teeth are like icebergs, and most of the tooth resides below the gum line.
4. When looking at adult teeth in America, they are numbered 1 to 32. This numbering starts on the upper right, and then counting across are numbers 1 through 16. You follow down to the lower left with tooth 17 and end on the bottom right with 32.
5. When looking at baby teeth, they are not numbered but lettered A to T. They are counted the same way, beginning with the upper right and then following across and then down, with tooth T being the back, right tooth.
6. Our teeth are unique as being one of the only things our body cannot naturally heal.
7. The name deciduous teeth, which we usually call baby teeth, is derived from the Latin word decidere, defined as falling off or being shed. Think of how leaves fall from a deciduous tree.
8. While many of us think of diet soda as a healthy alternative to regular soda, this is not true for your teeth! Even if diet sodas are marketed as a healthy alternative for your waistline, these drinks still maintain the same acids in them, which will erode your teeth over time.
9. Some adults never lose their baby teeth. When this happens, the baby teeth which remain are called retained baby teeth. That can be caused by a lack of permanent teeth that typically replace them.

The team at Smile in Style, Diem Do DDS takes pride in offering comprehensive examinations, dental cleanings, and other dental treatments and services designed to help you live your best life. Please call (504) 340-9400 today to schedule an appointment with Dr. Do.

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