Dental Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross vocabulary crossword on teeth: kinds and counts, parts of a tooth, the dental office and animal teeth.

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Dental Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

This grid is wider than a phone screen, so it scrolls sideways. It prints whole.

Tap a square, and its clue shows here.

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Word bank

  • Canine
  • Cavity
  • Chatter
  • Chew
  • Enamel
  • Floss
  • Gum
  • Incisor
  • Molar
  • Plaque
  • Rinse
  • Toothbrush

Type in a square and the next one takes over. Tap the same square again, or press Space, to switch between Across and Down. Arrow keys move around the grid, Enter goes to the next clue, and a clue takes you to its squares.

Print gives 2 pages on Letter or A4: the puzzle with its clues, then the answer key. The squares print 9 mm wide. For a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print window.

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Answer key: Dental Crossword

1CHEWHAT2F3GTLU4CEO5MOLAR6R7INSEN8CNS9PIACLNVI10ENAMELISQ11TOOTHBRUSHYRE

Across 1 CHEW · 5 MOLAR · 6 RINSE · 10 ENAMEL · 11 TOOTHBRUSH

Down 1 CHATTER · 2 FLOSS · 3 GUM · 4 CANINE · 7 INCISOR · 8 CAVITY · 9 PLAQUE

Next step Find dental health words in a word searchPrint a tooth brushing chart

All 125 clues

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Kinds of Teeth and Counts 31

  • Bruxism Dental term for excessive clenching of the jaw
  • Canine One of an adult's four pointed teeth
  • Chatter What teeth do when you shiver
  • Chew What you do to a bite before you swallow
  • Chomp Bite down with a loud snap
  • Consonant A dental one is a speech sound made against the upper teeth
  • Crunch Noise of teeth meeting a raw carrot
  • Cusp Raised point on the top of a tooth; a premolar has at least two
  • Deciduous Word for the first set of teeth; primary
  • Dens Latin for tooth
  • Dentition The development and arrangement of teeth, in one word
  • Diastema A space or gap between two teeth
  • Eight Count of premolars in an adult mouth, two in each quarter
  • Erupt Come through and become visible, as a new tooth does
  • Fairy Tooth ___: figure of folklore who leaves a small payment
  • Gnash Clash the teeth together in anger
  • Grind What wide back teeth do to food
  • Incisor Front tooth that cuts; an adult has 8
  • Mastication Formal word for crushing food between the jaws
  • Milk ___ teeth: an informal name for the first set
  • Millstone Meaning of the Latin mola, which names a wide back tooth
  • Molar Big tooth at the back; an adult has 12
  • Nibble Eat a cracker in tiny pieces, edge first
  • Notation Dental ___: a system for naming each tooth by number or letter
  • Occlusion In a dental context, simply the contact between teeth
  • Permanent Word for the second set, thirty-two in all
  • Pillow Where folklore says to leave a lost baby tooth
  • Quadrant One of four parts of the mouth on a tooth chart
  • Teething An infant's first set arriving, typically in pairs
  • Twelve Count of the big back teeth in a full adult set, six up and six down
  • Wisdom ___ tooth: last to arrive, in the late teens or early 20s

Inside a Tooth and Around It 28

  • Alveolus Anatomy name for the hole in the jaw that holds a tooth
  • Ameloblast Cell, present only while a tooth develops, that deposits its hard outer coat
  • Amylase Enzyme found in the mouth's watery fluid
  • Bacteria Microorganisms whose acids break teeth down
  • Canal Natural space that runs down inside a tooth
  • Caries Name, from Latin, for tooth decay
  • Cementum Calcified substance covering the buried part of a tooth
  • Crown What shows of a tooth when you smile
  • Dentin It lies beneath the hard coat of a tooth and is harder than bone
  • Drool Mouth fluid that dribbles out
  • Enamel The white of a tooth, 96% mineral
  • Gingiva Anatomy word for the pink tissue that seals around each tooth
  • Gomphosis Name of the joint between a tooth and the bone that holds it
  • Gum Pink tissue around the base of a tooth
  • Ligament The L of PDL: fibers that attach a tooth to the bone it sits in
  • Mandible Bone that carries the lower row of teeth and shares joints with the temporal bones
  • Maxilla Fixed bone that holds the top row of teeth
  • Nerve What supplies feeling to the whole tooth, with the blood vessels
  • Palate Hard ___: bony plate in the roof of the mouth
  • Periodontium The tissues that support a tooth, taken together
  • Plaque Deposit found between teeth and along the gumline, colorless at first
  • Pulp Soft living center of a tooth
  • Root Part of a tooth down in the bone
  • Socket Hole in the jaw that holds a tooth
  • Spit Everyday word for the watery fluid in the mouth
  • Tartar Hardened deposit on teeth, also called calculus
  • Tongue It moves food around and tastes it
  • Uvula Conic projection at the back edge of the soft roof of the mouth

At the Dental Office 26

  • Assistant Dental ___: team member who supports the operator
  • Braces Devices that align and straighten teeth
  • Bridge Fixed restoration that joins an artificial tooth to its neighbors
  • Burr Cutting bit that a dental handpiece spins
  • Cavity What decay leaves in a tooth
  • Dentist Health care professional for the mouth
  • Dentures Removable false teeth
  • Drill Hand-held mechanical instrument, also called a handpiece
  • Filling Restoration for tooth structure lost to decay or wear
  • Fissure Groove on the biting surface of a back tooth
  • France Country of Pierre Fauchard, credited as the father of the modern dental profession
  • Hygienist Licensed member of the dental team, registered after board exams
  • Implant Prosthesis that joins with the bone to hold a replacement tooth
  • Impression Negative mold of the mouth, from which a cast can be formed
  • Laughing "___ gas": common name of nitrous oxide
  • Mirror Instrument with a small round head for seeing behind a tooth
  • Orthodontist Specialist in mal-positioned teeth and misaligned bites
  • Pediatric Word for dental care of children, from birth through adolescence
  • Periodontist Specialist in the supporting structures of teeth
  • Porcelain Ceramic that a thin tooth covering may be made of
  • Retainer Custom-made device that holds teeth in position after they have been straightened
  • Sealant Coating placed in the recesses of back teeth
  • Technician Dental ___: maker of prosthetic devices, working from a prescription
  • Titanium Metal that forms a close bond with bone around a tooth replacement
  • Veneer Layer of material placed over a tooth to protect its surface or improve its look
  • X-ray Radiograph: an image of hidden structures and bone

Brush, Paste and Floss 16

  • Antiseptic Word for a solution meant to reduce microbes
  • Bristles Tightly clustered tips on the head of a cleaning tool
  • Dentifrice Formal word for a cleaning paste or gel used with a brush
  • Floss Cord of thin filaments, often nylon
  • Fluoride The most common active ingredient that tooth-cleaning pastes deliver
  • Gargle Tilt the head back and make a mouthful bubble
  • Halitosis Formal word for bad breath
  • Hygiene Oral ___: what a tooth-cleaning paste is used to promote
  • Interdental Word meaning between the teeth
  • Mouthguard Wearable shield for the teeth in contact sports
  • Mouthwash Bottled liquid swirled around behind the teeth
  • Rinse Swish water around and let it go
  • Toothbrush Bathroom tool with a head and a handle
  • Toothpaste Capped gel for the bathroom shelf
  • Toothpick Sliver of wood or bamboo for after a meal
  • Twig Teeth-cleaning ___: tool from a tree, used since ancient times

Teeth in the Animal World 24

  • Anteater Mammal with no front cutting teeth at all
  • Armadillo Xenarthran mammal, toothless at the very front of the jaw
  • Beaver Large semiaquatic mammal with long chisel-like front teeth
  • Carnassial Shearing side tooth of a meat-eating order, with edges that often sharpen themselves
  • Crocodile Reptile whose teeth are continually replaced
  • Diphyodont Animal with two sets of teeth, as most mammals are
  • Egg tooth Temporary sharp point a hatchling uses to break out of its shell
  • Elephant Land giant whose two great teeth are elongated front ones
  • Gecko Small lizard whose teeth are continually replaced
  • Heterodont Having teeth of more than one shape, as humans do
  • Horse Animal with up to five shapes of tooth in its mouth
  • Hyrax Small mammal whose protruding teeth are elongated front cutting teeth
  • Ivory Carvers' name for the hard white stuff of long animal teeth
  • Kangaroo Hopping mammal that, unlike most, keeps replacing its teeth
  • Keratin Protein of a whale's filter plates, which are not teeth
  • Narwhal Toothed whale; the male's long spiral is a left eyetooth
  • Opossum Mammal with 18 front cutting teeth, where a human has 8
  • Polyphyodont Animal whose teeth are replaced again and again
  • Radula Chitinous strip, set with minute teeth, that scrapes food for most mollusks
  • Rodent Mammal of an order known by one pair of ever-growing front teeth above and below
  • Shark Fish that may shed 35,000 teeth in a lifetime
  • Snake Reptile whose specialized tooth is associated with a venom gland
  • Tusk Tooth that protrudes well beyond the mouth and keeps on lengthening
  • Walrus Bulky pinniped of the far north with prominent long teeth

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for grades 2 to 9, in five sets. Tooth parts and counts were checked against the Tooth anatomy page of MedlinePlus, from the U.S. National Library of Medicine, and English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) in October 2026. A clue says what a word names. None tells a reader how to care for teeth or what treatment to choose. Licence: own work

How it works

This dental crossword puzzle prints on Letter or A4, answer key included. The first puzzle has 12 words with a word bank, among them Enamel, Molar, Incisor, Floss, Cavity, Gum, Plaque and Toothbrush. Clues say what each word names; none is care advice.

Read the full guide

Five sets after the basics

Kinds of Teeth and Counts has Wisdom, Deciduous, Quadrant and Diastema. Inside a Tooth and Around It has Dentin, Pulp, Cementum and Mandible. At the Dental Office has Hygienist, Braces, Sealant and Veneer. Brush, Paste and Floss has Bristles, Fluoride, Dentifrice and Interdental. Teeth in the Animal World has Tusk, Narwhal, Carnassial and Radula.

Numbers a class can check

Count clues come from the adult set of thirty-two: Eight for the premolars, Twelve for the molars. Other clues give the 96 percent mineral of enamel, the 18 incisors of an opossum and the 35,000 teeth a shark may shed in a lifetime.

  • Teeth in the Animal World fits a science unit on animals as well as a dental health week.

Questions and answers

Is there a printable dental crossword puzzle with an answer key?

Yes. The key prints last, after the puzzle, its clues and the word bank, so a class set can go out without it. Printing is free, with no sign-up.

What grade is the dental crossword puzzle for?

Dental Basics suits grades 2 to 5. The five themed sets suit grades 5 to 9 and dental assisting classes, with answers such as Cementum, Periodontist and Diphyodont. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

How many teeth do adults have?

Thirty-two in a full permanent set: eight incisors, four canines, eight premolars and twelve molars. A child's first set has twenty. Eight and Twelve are answers in Kinds of Teeth and Counts.

What are the four types of teeth?

Incisors, canines, premolars and molars. The incisors cut food, the canines tear it, and the premolars and molars crush it. Incisor, Canine and Molar are answers in Dental Basics.

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