Many patients have indeed sought to know whether teeth are considered bones. The key commonality between your teeth and bone is that they’re both hard substances. By teeth, we mean your enamel, the substance located at the front surface of your teeth designed to protect your smile from harmful substances.
To answer that straight off the bat; teeth are not bones. So, why is it easy for someone to think this? Well, teeth and bones both contain sources of calcium, and the replenishing of calcium around your body comes from these two areas.
The makeup of bone and teeth are different. There is a single property that will detail why teeth are not bones.
This property is collagen, a protein that’s found in skin and connective tissue, which holds the body together. Bone is made up mostly of Collagen, a living and growing tissue. This means that when bone weakens, it can mend itself with the right minerals to strengthen and harden its framework.
So, Why Are Teeth Not Bones?
So, you have collagen and calcium; but why are teeth not bones? This is because a broken tooth cannot mend itself and doesn’t contain the regenerative properties that bones do.
The enamel acts as a protective substance to your smile so that harmful chemicals do not penetrate underneath it. However, if the enamel begins to weaken, it cannot strengthen itself and hence, is damaged permanently.
How Do I Keep My Enamel Strong?
To keep your enamel strong, you need to be performing daily oral hygiene, which involves brushing and flossing your teeth twice a day, avoiding properties that can stain and damage your teeth such as tannins and sugars, and ensuring that you feed your enamel with foods that contain calcium and phosphorous.
Here are some examples of food choices you can try:
- Organ Meats
- Seafood
- Dairy
- Seeds and Nuts
- Whole Grains
- Leafy Green Vegetables
What Else Is Bone Made Of?
Bones are typically made up of three properties: calcium, collagen and phosphorous. These properties keep bones strong and regenerate themselves. This is performed when new tissue forms to replace damaged old tissue.
To sum up, teeth are not bones because bones can repair themselves, whereas teeth cannot, which makes it even more important to make sure that you look after your natural teeth with strong oral hygiene to avoid any complications with your oral health and damage to your smile.
When you’re at your check-up appointment, you may want to ask the question of why teeth are bones if you’re interested to learn more!
You can reach out to our dentist in Garran for further guidance.