Canine: the pointed tooth at each corner of the smile.

In kid words

"Your canines are the pointy teeth at the corners of your smile, kind of like a puppy's teeth." They're the teeth that take the first bite of something like an apple. Even Shades has canines of his own, just bigger than yours.

The parent version

Canines, sometimes called cuspids, are the pointed teeth at the corners of the smile, positioned between the incisors in front and the bicuspids further back. Their shape matches their job: tearing food and helping guide the bite as the jaw comes together.

Canines have a bit of a reputation among dental professionals for taking their time. Whether it's a baby canine or the adult canine that eventually replaces it, these teeth are known for arriving later than the teeth around them, sometimes well after their neighbors have already settled in. That is one of the things a growth check keeps an eye on at a routine visit, and anything specific to your own child's timeline is best asked directly with your pediatric dentist.

Where you might hear it at our office

Watching for canines as they arrive is part of the growth checks built into every routine visit, alongside the comprehensive exams and professional cleanings already on the schedule. If a canine is slow to arrive, or comes in at an angle or crowded, that is exactly the kind of finding that can lead to a conversation about orthodontics, where growth and alignment continue to be watched over time.

You can look up any other unfamiliar word in the rest of the dental dictionary.

Related words

Words that often come up alongside canine: cusp, bicuspid, eruption.