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Your teeth help you to feel happier every day. They fill your smiles with joyful shine and chew your most loved foods. Looking in the mirror, they look like white rocks in your mouth, but the truth is that they are much more than mineral deposits. Your teeth are living parts of your body that have tiny nerve systems, blood vessels, advanced organic chemicals, and compact crystal stronger than anywhere else in your body.

We want you to understand why all of us at Bellefontaine Family Dental love dentistry, so we have created a vocabulary list that shows the awesome parts of every tooth:

  • Enamel: If your teeth were pearly white knights, your enamel would be their shining armor. Enamel is composed of highly compacted crystals and protects your teeth from bacterial invasion and hard debris. You can retain your enamel with fluoride-filled toothpaste.
  • Dentin: Sitting under the enamel is a softer, porous, material called dentin. It is tinted yellow and is full of tiny tubules that run from the inner tooth to the dentin.
  • Cementum: This awesome chemical cements the dentin-composed root of the tooth in place, gluing it into the jaw bone.
  • Pulp: There is a cavity in the center of the tooth which is full of nerves, veins, arteries, and other organic tissue called pulp. This keeps the tooth alive, so it can fight off bacterial infections.

There you have it. Remember that your mouth is full of pearly white fighters, and that you can help them by brushing, flossing, and coming to see our dentist, Dr. Sam Cigno, at our practice in St. Louis, Missouri. You can schedule an appointment with us by calling 314-741-5133.