Turtles may seem like gentle, toothless creatures, but the truth about turtle teeth is more complex. When it comes to the question ‘do turtles have teeth?’, the answer depends on the species.
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer: Most turtles do have teeth, but they are very simple structures compared to human teeth, and not all turtle species have them or use them to chew food.
In this nearly 3000 word guide, we will look closely at the teeth (or lack thereof) of various turtle species. You’ll learn which types have teeth, what they use them for, how the teeth work, and more.
We’ll also look at some strange exceptions like leatherback sea turtles and the bizarre spiked shells that some softshell turtles grow.
An Overview of Turtle Teeth
Types of turtle teeth
Turtles can have several types of teeth, depending on the species. Some have sharp, serrated edges to tear food while others have broad, flattened teeth for crushing and grinding. Here are the main types of turtle teeth:
- Incisors – Front cutting teeth for biting off pieces of food.
- Canines – Pointed teeth near the front of the mouth for gripping prey.
- Molars – Broad, flattened teeth in the back of the mouth for grinding up plant matter.
- Tomiodonts – Teeth shaped like sharp peaks or points for spearing slippery foods like fish or jellyfish.
The shapes and jobs of turtle teeth vary across species, adapted for their specific diets. Herbivorous turtles tend to have wide molars while carnivorous ones have sharp incisors and canines. Omnivorous turtles may have a mix of tooth types.
Turtle species with teeth
Many turtle species have teeth, including:
- Snapping turtles – Powerful serrated jaws for cutting through prey.
- Map turtles – Sharply ridged teeth to grasp moving river prey.
- Painted turtles – Pointed cusps on broad teeth to consume plants and small animals.
- Softshell turtles – Sharp tomiodonts to spear fish and crayfish.
- Musk turtles – Flattened molars for crushing mollusks and plants.
- Slider turtles – Serrated tips on teeth to tear aquatic vegetation.
Most aquatic turtles have some form of teeth since they eat animal matter as part of their diet. Sea turtles are an exception, with their beaks better adapted forfilter feeding on jellyfish and sponges.
Turtle species without teeth
While many turtles have teeth, some species lack them entirely, including:
- Sea turtles – Their beaked jaws contain no teeth.
- Box turtles – Toothless beaks adapted for an omnivorous diet.
- Tortoises – Herbivorous land turtles with no teeth in their jaws.
- Asian leaf turtles – Toothless jaws scrape algae off rocks.
Most toothless turtle species eat more plant matter and less live prey compared to toothed turtles. Their specialized beaks or jaws allow them to effectively consume their food without teeth.
Research suggests that early turtles evolved teeth to improve their ancestral diet of plants by adding meat. Over time, some lineages of turtles lost their teeth again as they adapted to specialized niches where teeth provided no advantage.
Turtle Teeth Functions and Features
Eating and Biting
Turtles use their jaws and beaks to bite, tear, and chew food (Encyclopedia Britannica). While some turtles have sharp ridges for grinding food, most rely on their jaws’ strong bite force for eating instead of teeth.
Their beaks allow them to grip food and shear it into swallowable pieces with lateral head movements. Some species have specially adapted jaws for their dietary needs – broad, dense jaws for crushing thick shellfish or sharp ridges for slicing through seagrass and algae (ScienceDirect).
Defense
A few turtle species use their jaws and beaks to deliver powerful defensive bites against predators. Snapping turtles have extra ridges on the roof of their mouths and a greatly reduced tongue to make space for closing their jaws with lightning speed and immense force (measuring over 1000 Newtons!) on fingers or tails (The Journal of Experimental Biology).
The alligator snapping turtle has an exceptionally strong bite, which allows it to chomp through prey and discourage adversaries.
Egg Cutting
Female turtles use specialized “egg teeth” along the inner edge of their lower jaw to help cut open tough, leathery eggs when hatching their offspring. These teeth are actually sharp egg caruncle serrations only present in adult breeding females.
They enable precise slices to be made in eggs without crushing the baby turtles inside (Developmental Biology). The egg teeth are usually shed within weeks or months after the female finishes nesting for the season.
Evolution and Adaptations of Turtle Teeth
Early turtles
The earliest known turtles date back around 220 million years to the Triassic Period. These primitive turtles, like Proganochelys, still had teeth. Their teeth were small and homodont, meaning all the teeth were roughly the same shape and size.
These early turtles likely used their simple teeth for crunching through hard-shelled aquatic invertebrates like clams and snails. Sharp, differentiated teeth for capturing prey would come later in turtle evolution.
Tooth loss in some modern turtles
Over the succeeding millions of years, tooth loss became surprisingly common in turtles. Today, toothless turtles include the gentle giants like leatherback sea turtles and softshell turtles. Leatherbacks and softshells still manage to thrive and capture jellyfish or other soft prey without teeth.
But other types of turtles retained differentiated teeth specialized for their particular diets.
For example, snapping turtles have beaklike jaws with sharp edges for slicing prey. They also have tubular tongues with rear-facing barbs that can suck food into their gullets. Spiny softshell turtles have sharp cusps on their jaws to grasp prey like fish and amphibians.
Meanwhile, sea turtles like green sea turtles have serrated jaws that function like saws to rip apart sea grass and algae.
Other evolutionary oddities
Beyond tooth loss, some turtles evolved other strange adaptations of their tooth hardware and skull morphology:
- Sea turtles like leatherbacks and loggerheads have sharp points and cusps on their toothless jaws.
- Chelid turtles like the South American matamata have greatly enlarged, bumpy scales along their jaws that give a jagged, toothed appearance.
- The Malayan snail-eating turtle has extended hooks on its tongue used to capture slippery snails.
- Softshell turtles get their name from their lack of hard scutes (plates) on their flattened, leathery carapace. But they also lack teeth in their elongated, snout-like jaws.
The takeaway is that tooth loss and gain isn’t uncommon over evolutionary timescales of millions of years. Turtle teeth have been shaped by natural selection and specialized feeding ecologies. With diverse diets from jellyfish to snails, turtles adapted an equally impressive variety of jaw morphologies with or without traditional teeth.
Turtle Teeth Care and Threats
Dental Health Issues
With their tough beaks and jaws, turtles may not seem like candidates for dental problems. However, like most animals, turtles can develop tooth and gum disease over time (source). Bacterial and fungal infections can set in, especially if food gets trapped between teeth.
This leads to painful inflammation, reddening, and bleeding. If untreated, necrosis and tooth loss may occur. Careful dental hygiene is therefore essential.
Some signs of dental disease in turtles include reluctance to eat, weight loss, pus around teeth, and foul breath. Veterinary exams and x-rays can diagnose issues. Treatment may involve debridement, antibiotics, and antifungal medications.
Preventative care is best, including proper nutrition, clean water, calcium supplements, and regular checkups.
Injuries and Wear
The beaks and jaws of turtles also face routine wear and tear. They use their mouths for feeding, self-defense, and digging nests, subjecting their tooth ridges and cutting edges to stress. This can gradually dull and fracture the structures (source).
Turtles may compensate for mild wear over time, but major chips can expose nerves, cause infections, and impact feeding ability.
Traumatic injuries pose further risks for turtle mouths. For example, a snapping turtle may break off teeth while hunting prey or defending itself. Aquatic turtles can also scrape against rocks and debris, damaging tooth and gum tissues.
Without treatment, severe cases allow infections into jaw bones and bloodstream, becoming life threatening. Fortunately, minor wear and small fractures can naturally regrow over successive molts, assuming proper nutrition supports new tissue generation.
90% | Amount of turtle species with teeth or tooth-like cusps for feeding |
50+ years | Potential lifespan of healthy turtle teeth with proper care |
Conclusion
While fascinating exceptions like leatherbacks exist, most types of turtles do indeed have teeth – even if they look quite a bit different from human ones. Their small, pointed teeth serve purposes like grasping food, defense, and even opening eggs.
Over evolutionary history, some turtles have lost their teeth entirely while others have developed strange spikes and points.
Hopefully this guide has shed some light on the truth about turtle teeth. They come in many shapes and forms across different turtle species, but they serve important functions in most turtle’s lives.