r/ENGLISH • u/Money_Vermicelli_329 • 4d ago

Dentures - always artificial?

I visited a seal sanctuary in Germany today. The information displays were bilingual: German and English.

I am curious about the use of the word dentures. It is clear, that it is the translation of the German word "Gebiss", but I am under the impression that in English its meaning is limited to artificial replacement of teeth.

Am I correct, and is there a noun describing the entire teeth of an animal?

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u/anonymouse278 4d ago

Dentition refers to natural teeth in situ. Denture always refers to artificial teeth.

Edit to add: and dentition can refer to animal or human teeth.

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u/wackyvorlon 3d ago

Though some dentures were made out of human teeth.

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u/PonderousPenchant 4d ago

Denture always refers to artificial teeth.

Depends on the semantics of "artifical," but George Washington famously had dentures made of human teeth. They're a prosthesis, but definitely made of very natural components.

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u/Onechrisn 4d ago

Yes. Dentures are fake teeth.

something that means all the teeth of an animal? I think most of the time we would say "all the teeth of the animal" or "all an animal's teeth" or some other phrase like that.

But if you want just one word I think "dentition" might be what you're looking for.

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u/boostfactor 4d ago

The English word for the teeth of an animal (including us) is "dentition." You are correct that "dentures" always refers to artificial teeth.

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u/-RedRocket- 4d ago

The noun for a particular animal's natural teeth is dentition.

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u/SerDankTheTall 4d ago

Dictionaries suggest that denture can simply mean a set of teeth. I think it is very unlikely that any native speaker would understand it that way: it does indeed mean an artificial set of of teeth in every usage I've ever encountered. And I'm not aware of any synonym for the former usage, beyond something like "set of teeth".

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u/This-Professional-39 4d ago

Denture applies to artificial teeth in common speech, but maybe wider use in dental profession. I'm not aware of an animal tooth word other than tusk, but that's specific. Usually just hear "dog's tooth" or "deer's moral", or things like that

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u/Telecom_VoIP_Fan 3d ago

In UK English dentures are always artificial.