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Mamelons: The Bumps On Your Child’s Permanent Teeth Are Normal
Have you ever noticed the little bumps on a brand new permanent front tooth in your child's mouth?
Sometimes parents think that their children's teeth have something wrong with them when they first notice these serrated edges on their kids' front teeth.
Fortunately, there is nothing abnormal about these bumps and grooves. They are completely normal -- so normal, in fact, that there is a special name to describe these bumps: mamelons. They appear due to the way that the permanent teeth develop.
The Serrated Bumps on the Permanent Incisors Are Mamelons
All teeth develop from what are called lobes. Deep down under the gums, the different lobes all grow together, each one forming a different part of the tooth. On the front teeth, the incisors, there are three lobes that come together to form the front of the tooth. You can visualize where these lobes joined together by looking at the mamelons. There was a front lobe on the left, one in the middle, and one on the right.
Here's a close-up of the above photo displaying the mamelons in greater detail:
The three bumps on the lower middle front teeth are known as mamelons. They appear on all newly erupted permanent incisors.
Why Don't Adults Have Mamelons On Their Front Teeth?
Usually mamelons are only present for a short time. Since they are uneven and rather thin, they tend to wear away pretty quickly as the child uses his or her new permanent teeth to chew their food. Interestingly enough, not long ago, I screened a new patient for treatment at the dental school and noticed that he still had his mamelons present.
Mamelons can still be found on the front teeth of some adults when their teeth don't come together in the way that they should. For example, if someone bites together and their front teeth don't touch, then the mamelons won't ever contact their opposing teeth. Because they don't contact their opposing teeth, they don't have a chance to get worn down (unless you're chewing rocks, but then you'd probably have more to worry about than just keeping your mamelons!)
Adults who still have their mamelons and don't like their appearance can go to any dentist and have them smooth them out for a more aesthetic look.
Conclusion
If your child has bumps on their front teeth, don't be alarmed! It's completely normal to have these bumps on permanent front teeth -- it would be abnormal to not have them.
If you have any questions or comments about mamelons - the serrated edges on the front permanent teeth, please leave them in the comments section below.
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Hi, I'm Tom. I'm currently a 4th year dental student in the USA. I started this blog to help people take better care of their teeth. You can 
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I'm so relieved to learn that the bumps are normal! Thank you OralAnswers.com!
ps. by the way, that is a great photo!
Thank you for visiting, Lisa!
It took a few tries, but I finally got the camera to focus and my niece to hold still!
I'm also relieved for my son that these are part of the normal development of the tooth. I'm quite surprised that I've never heard of this before. Great article thanks.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Alison. Thanks for visiting!
I hadn't heard of mamelons until I started learning about dentistry. I think I kind of noticed them on kids before but never really made the connection that they appear and then get worn away as we get older.
Hi,
I was just wondering if most dentists would be willing to smooth out the mamelons free of charge. Do you know if and how much it costs to do so?
Hi Jay - I think most dentists would do this free of charge IF:
1 - You are a good, loyal patient who cares about your dental health and gets regular check-ups
2 - You come in to get a filling and the dentist is already looking in your mouth at the mamelons with a drill in his or her hand.
At my dental school, we will do minor adjustments free of charge. I just saw a patient two weeks ago who had a small corner of her back tooth chip off. She needs a crown on that tooth, but until she gets that done, she wanted me to fix it because the tooth was pretty sharp and was hurting her tongue. Since I already had the drill out, I just smoothed it out for her free of charge.
If you don't have a dentist that you visit regularly, then it will probably end up costing you somewhere around $100 since you would have to come in for a new patient appointment and the dentist would not only have to smooth out the mamelons, but would have to re-shape and contour your tooth to make it look normal... It might look a bit flat if the mamelons were just shaved away.
I hope that answers your question. I will take a look at the fees my dental school charges and see how much a dental school would normally charge for this procedure. Thanks for your comment!
Update:
I just checked the fee schedule at my dental school and depending on the code that we use to charge for the procedure, it would either be $50 or $53. The procedure is called enameloplasty (contouring the enamel on a tooth.)
We usually charge anywhere from 50 to 80% of what a private practice charges, so I am guessing it would be closer to around $100 in private practice. Hope that helps!
This is really helpful - I've had the ridges on my front teeth my entire life (I'm 36). I do have bite issues, for which I recently got braces. I noticed that the ridges were gone this morning on my upper front teeth and was confounded as to how braces could have changed the shape of my teeth!! Now I understand what happened - they must be moving alreayd and my memlons wore off/down. Neat! Thank you for helping me figure this out! Excellent article!
Thanks for your comment, Terri! It's always nice to know that people are reading and understanding what I write
That's great that your teeth are getting back into proper alignment. If you lost the mamelons pretty quickly, your orthodontist might have helped to wear them down by smoothing them out a little bit to make your teeth more symmetrical.
Phew! I was worried that the ridges were signs of some form of nutrition deficiency in my daughter! Your article has eliminated my concerns. Thank you!
Glad it helped, Chrissy! It's good to keep an eye on your kids' teeth though, because a lot of deficiencies and diseases cause abnormal things to happen in the mouth.
why the mamelons are absent in decidious dentition ?
Hi Arun - While I can't tell you the exact reason that baby teeth don't have mamelons, I can tell you that my professors have said that it has something to do with the developmental lobes of the teeth.
Although my instructors have told me that baby teeth don't have mamelons, I have seen baby teeth that definitely look like they have mamelons on them, so I'm not entirely sure on this issue.
Thanks for your question!
Hello i am 14 and i still have these mamelons. I have an overbight so by teeth don't rub to gether and my mamelons are really distinctive. I am wearing braces, so do do you think eventually when my teeth are fixed the mamelons will go away?
Hi Alyson - Once your teeth are in correct alignment, the mamelons should go away. You can also ask your orthodontist to smooth them down - many orthodontists are willing to smooth them down for you at the end of treatment if you just ask.
I hope that helps. Thanks for your comment, Alyson!
My youngest child is 5 months old. His bottom Central incisors are about 1/2 way through. I know you mentioned before about baby teeth may or may not have mamelons. I am kind of freaking out. His clearly have the three little bumps on them. They aren't flat at all. I have 2 older kids, so I am familiar with what baby teeth look like. Should I be worried? I can't really find anything online to read about this. Thank you for any info. you can give.
Hi Laraine - Sometimes baby teeth can have small points on them. Most likely, there's nothing to worry about, but if you're overly worried, you can take your son to any pediatric dentist and they will be able to let you know what is going on. If it looks like two teeth together, there is a possibility that it could be gemination or fusion.
I hope that helps, Laraine. Let me know if you have any other questions - Thanks for your comment!
what is the purpose of the orthodonist grinding the ends of your teeth before u get braces?
Hi Trevor - If you had mamelons, it would help to grind them off so that the teeth are shorter. If your lower front teeth are in front of of your upper front teeth, then it may be easier for the orthodontist to move the teeth by shaving down the mamelons and making the teeth shorter. We haven't covered this in any of our orthodontics classes, so that's just a guess.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks for your comment, Trevor!
Thank you so much for having this blog, it help answer alot of my question
Thanks for reading, Nancy! I'm glad it helped.
my granddaughter just broke her new incisor and the dentist is putting a crown on the broken tooth. He is asking if we want the crown to include the mamelons or do we want him to file down the mamelons on the good tooth. What is your suggestion?
Hi Diane - I'm sorry to hear about her accident. If it were my daughter, I would probably go with no mamelons on the crown. The mamelons usually wear away after a while anyway, so I don't see much of a point in adding them. It sounds like the dentist is willing to help the mamelons wear away a little more quickly - that will make the new crown look a lot better.
Hi mr. Tom
I just wanted to thank you for posting this because I am twenty years old and I still have mamelons on my teeth. I know I have a slightly crooked jaw so do you think that could be the reason why? I don't have a primary dentist but I have a hard closing my mouth completely because of these problems. Do you have any information on JAW SURGERY as well?
Hi Kamaljit - The crooked jaw could be causing your teeth to not come together like they should. If that is the case, then that could definitely be the reason that you still have mamelons on your teeth. If it's only slightly crooked, it could be probably be corrected without surgery and just with braces. Jaw surgery can be used when there is a severe problem with your bite. The best way to find out what you need done is to see a dentist/orthodontist to have your bite checked out and to see what is necessary to get your bite to normal. I hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions.