De dentium affectibus

but, just as they are distinguished by various names and appellations, so also in reality and in the diversity of their use, they are distinguished into almost three orders.

XIII.
For the front ones, possessing a broader edge at the top, cut the food taken in across; the ones next to them on either side, being pointed, scrape it; the last ones, having become broader, thicker, and uneven compared to the rest, crush it by grinding and bit by bit break it into small pieces.

XIV.
Hence, their number is to be estimated. For in perfect humans, thirty-two are usually found; sometimes fewer, rarely more.

XV.
Among these, the first twelve, namely the eight incisors (οἱ τομεοὶ καὶ διχαστῆρες the cutters and splitters in Greek) and the four canines (οἱ κυνόδοντες the dog-teeth), are always visible when the mouth is opened, and they are revealed especially while laughing. The remaining twenty, five on each side, both above and below (called molars by our people, just as they are μυλῖται καὶ γόμφιοι millstones and peg-teeth to them), lie perpetually hidden, covered by the cheeks and almost covered by the gums, though this is more true of the later ones, which, because they are produced later, have found the names genuini teeth of the jaw, ὀψίγονοι late-born, and σωφρονιστήρες wisdom teeth from that fact.

XVI.
But whether a continuous bone of teeth, distinct with no gaps, was granted by Nature to certain [animals], it is not without reason to doubt; since, regarding that which many confirm, experience demonstrates nothing of the sort in the wolf.

XVII.
Finally, the position or arrangement of the teeth is such that, inserted into the little sockets or pits of each jaw (called τὰ φάτνια sockets or βοθρία small pits by reason of their similarity), they look at and touch each other, [and] the molars [do this], while the others, since they cut off and scrape away things like pincers, do not join by their edges.