The Real Reason You Have Ridges On Your Teeth
If you've ever wondered why you have ridges on some of your teeth, look no further. As it turns out, the small, rounded bumps that appear on the edge of your front teeth are known as mamelons (via Healthline). Consisting of three bumps per tooth, mamelons occur when your adult teeth are still forming beneath the gum tissue and usually appear on newly erupted incisor teeth. Incisors are the eight front teeth in the upper and lower jaws that help you chew and bite into food.
While some dentists believe mamelons help your incisor teeth erupt and break through the gum, most agree that there is no clinical significance for them. In fact, mamelons usually erode away over time as a result of everyday chewing, which can help flatten out the edge of your teeth. If you have an open bite or another type of misalignment, however, the mamelons on your teeth may remain intact throughout adulthood (via Healthline).
How to remove mamelons
In that case, you can always have them removed. Although mamelons are harmless, they may not be aesthetically pleasing for some people (via WebMD). If you have mamelons on your teeth and don't like the way they look, you can ask your dentist to remove them. Fortunately, this is a fairly easy and painless process. Through a procedure known as tooth reshaping or dental contouring, your dentist can smooth out your mamelons by shaving the edge of your teeth.
During this procedure, your dentist will most likely mark the areas that need to be reshaped and use a drill or laser to round out your teeth. After the mamelons have been shaved down and removed, they will polish the affected teeth so they both look and feel smooth and even. Since this is a noninvasive procedure, no recovery time is needed. You can just leave the dentist's office and continue to go about your day (per WebMD).