The root is the part of a tooth doing its work out of sight, anchored below the gum.

In kid words

"The root is the part of your tooth that hides under your gum and holds it in place, like an anchor for a little boat." You cannot see it or brush it directly, but it is down there doing its job the whole time. When a baby tooth finally wiggles free, its root has actually been quietly disappearing for weeks to make that possible.

The parent version

The root is the portion of a tooth below the gumline, embedded in the jawbone, as opposed to the crown, the visible part above the gum that does the biting and chewing. Every tooth has both. The root anchors the tooth in place and houses the canal that carries its nerve and blood supply.

Here is the part most parents never learned: a baby tooth's root does not simply wait around to be pushed out. As the permanent tooth underneath develops, it gradually dissolves the baby root away, which is the actual reason a wiggly tooth loosens rather than staying firmly anchored until one day it falls out whole. By the time a baby tooth finally comes out, very little of its root is left attached at all.

Where you might hear it at our office

A root itself is not something anyone can see in the mirror, which is part of why comprehensive exams and growth checks matter so much at a routine cleaning and exam. Digital X-rays, taken only as needed, are one of the few ways to actually see what a root is doing below the gumline, whether that is a baby tooth's root dissolving on schedule or a permanent tooth's root still settling into place.

One more hidden-away dental word, translated. If a different one is still nagging at you from a visit, the full Kids' Dental Dictionary is one click away.

Related words

Words that often come up alongside root: crown, exfoliation, eruption.