National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

NIEHS Kids' Pages Index! Links Disclaimer Privacy Policy and Disclaimers

Your Mouth and Teeth!

Teeth are alive. Even though the outside of your teeth seems very hard, it can be attacked by bacteria that cause decay. The slime you feel on your teeth in the morning is made mostly of bacteria. YUCK! Use a brush with soft bristles to brush your teeth gently up and down after meals. Next you need to floss. Dental floss looks like string. Slide it between your teeth and rub it along the sides of each tooth.

Pearly whites or choppers, incisors or canines, molars or bicuspids. You need them at all times. They cut and chew and grind. They bite and break and tear. They mish and mash and mush. They get a lot of wear. They have a messy job, but clean they need to stay. For that you brush and floss, to keep decay away!

Try holding your nose while you taste an apple. What do you notice?

1. SMELL is important for sensing flavors in food too!
   
   
2. SALIVA, from glands in your mouth, start digesting starchy foods, like bread.
   
   
3. Your TEETH cut, mash, and grind foods into small pieces that mix with saliva.
   
   
4. Your TONGUE helps in chewing and swallowing. You also need it for talking.
   
   
5. TASTE BUDS on your tongue and in your mouth send messages to your brain about flavors in food, including salty, sweet, sour and bitter.
   
   
6. Younger kids have 20 teeth that eventually fall out to make way for 32 permanent teeth in adults.

Links Disclaimer and Caution

When you encounter this imageor the words "Non-NIEHS Link", it means that by following that link you will be leaving the NIEHS website. NIEHS is NOT responsible for non-NIEHS websites. Sites maintained by outside organizations may be changed without notice to NIEHS. Therefore, unless the link is to another U.S. government sponsored webpage, endorsement by NIEHS is not implied, and NIEHS does not guarantee their continuing safe content or privacy policies. So please ask your parent or guardian before continuing to any non-NIEHS website, and especially before providing any information via the internet or by e-mail. When last reviewed, the websites linked from the NIEHS Kids' Pages seemed suitable for you to visit, but that may have changed; if you have any difficulties or concerns with any linked materials, please let us know .