Mouth… or Maw?
A dog has a muzzle, and a cat has a mouth! The difference? Their opening capacity. Slightly ajar, the muzzle is more slit-like than the mouth, revealing the premolars.
How Many Teeth Do Cats and Dogs Have?
Just like humans, our pets have two sets of teeth: deciduous teeth—or baby teeth—and permanent teeth.
Deciduous teeth appear at around 3 weeks of age. Kittens have 26 milk teeth, while puppies have 28, distributed as follows:
- 12 incisors – 6 in the upper jaw and 6 in the lower jaw;
- 4 canines – 2 in the upper jaw and 2 in the lower jaw;
- 10 or 12 premolars, depending on the species – 6 in the upper jaw and 4 or 6 in the lower jaw.
These will gradually fall out from 3 to 4 months to make way for the permanent teeth, which will be fully developed by 6–7 months. For some breeds, such as the Chihuahua, this process takes longer.
In adults, cats have 30 teeth while dogs have 42:
- 12 incisors – 6 in the upper jaw and 6 in the lower jaw;
- 4 canines – 2 in the upper jaw and 2 in the lower jaw;
- 10 or 16 premolars, depending on the species – 6 or 8 in the upper jaw and 4 or 8 in the lower jaw;
- 4 or 10 molars, depending on the species – 2 or 4 in the upper jaw and 2 or 6 in the lower jaw.
These teeth have different shapes and therefore different functions (link to emag tooth functions).
What Exactly Is a Tooth?
A tooth is primarily made of dentin—a hard structure formed by specialized cells called odontoblasts. It consists of 3 distinct layers:
- Primary dentin, formed during tooth development;
- Secondary dentin, which deposits over it once the tooth root is formed and marks the natural aging of the tooth;
- Tertiary dentin, which appears during repair processes.
At the heart of this dentin lies the dental pulp. It contains nerves, various vessels, connective tissue, and odontoblasts.
The visible part of the tooth is covered with enamel. This extremely hard tissue is formed by cells—ameloblasts—only before the tooth erupts. In our four-legged companions, enamel thickness ranges from 0.1 mm to 1 mm.
The root, the invisible part of the tooth, is covered with a bone-like tissue: cementum.
The tooth is supported by the periodontium, which includes the gum, cementum, alveolar bone, and periodontal ligament. This ligament surrounds the entire embedded portion of the tooth and attaches to the cementum—on the tooth side—and the alveolar bone. It helps hold the tooth in its socket. Lastly, the area between the tooth and the gum is called the gingival sulcus. Its depth varies physiologically between 0 and 1 mm in cats and 0 and 3 mm in dogs.
