Teeth have two basic parts, a root to anchor the tooth to the jaw and a crown above the gum line. The root is covered with a hard material called cementum. At the center of each tooth is an area with nerves, arteries and veins called the dental pulp.

Humans have four different types of teeth, each with a different function:

Incisorsfor cutting off bites of food.
Cuspids(sometimes called canines because of their long sharp points) for tearing food
Bicuspids(with two points) to tear and crush food
Molarswith large relatively flat surfaces to crush and grind food.

Our four different types of teeth together are called collective dentitionand they allows humans to be omnivores(eating both meat and vegetables). Most animals have more specialized teeth. Carnivorous (meat eating) animals have long sharp tearing teeth (like our incisors and cuspids). Grazing animals, like cows and horses have large flat teeth (like our molars) for grinding grass and other vegetation.