What Teeth Do Rats Have?
WouterUnlike humans, rats do not brush their teeth. Instead, they depend on a healthy diet low in sugar to avoid dental problems. A rat’s incisors are extremely hard. The enamel on these teeth is harder than iron, platinum, or copper. Humans have incisors that are not nearly as hard.
Rats do not have canines, which are conical-pointed teeth. They do have molars, but they are behind the canines. Rats also have a long space between the front teeth and the back teeth, called a diastema. These spaces can cause an injury to the rat, so regular examinations are necessary.
The incisor in a rat has three layers: the inner core (the pulp), the outer layer (dentin), and the enamel covering the front surface. The inner part of the tooth, or pulp, is filled with granular osteodentine. The size of the tooth’s pulp cavity decreases towards the tip.
The adult rat’s mandible has six cusps, while a mouse’s M1 has seven. The proportion of the mandible to the M1 in a mouse’s mouth is 1:9. A mouse’s M1 has six cusps, while rat M1 shows seven cusps. In the case of a rat, the cusp tip of the M1 is larger than that of a mouse.
Rats have some of the strongest jaws of all rodents. Some studies estimate that the jaw muscles of a rat can exert 6,000 pounds of force per square inch. This is much greater than the bite force of a human, which is around 70 pounds per square inch. By comparison, a hippo’s jaw exerts approximately 1,800 PSI. Rats can chew through many materials, but some materials cannot be chewed by rats.
