Red Fox Teeth and lower jaw questions

I glue the lower jaw and the teeth at the same time to help make sure it has the correct bite. Just Elmer's glue, or Aileen's tacky glue.

This red fox has a lot of trap damage and some teeth need to be realigned but all of the teeth are in the correct place:





And this is a diagram for a wolf, but the dental formula remains the same for most canines and your fox's teeth should be the same:


Haven't gotten the bottom teeth fully done yet but you can get the basic shape. Tooth roots are about the same as on top. Outside of teeth are rounded, inside of teeth are more straight.

 

I glue the lower jaw halves together and clamp with a rubber band at the end. Having the canines in place helps. I use a small amount of Elmer's glue in each tooth socket and glue all the teeth at once. I then set the upper and lower halves of the skull together, make sure the jaws are aligned and then move each tooth into it's proper place with the one under it. I find that if I just glue all the teeth in each half separately, dry and then set the halves together, sometimes the teeth don't quite line up as they did in life.

Either way, I use Elmer's glue as, if I make an error or really don't like something, I can soften it with a soak in warm water and change it.

When starting out with teeth on predators, you will notice that some of the front incisors look like a "mitten". The tooth will have a small projection on one side. That little thumb will always face to the outside of the jaw. Longer roots on the tooth normally indicate a lower mandible tooth. Shorter root will be an upper.

 

The mitten advice is good advice; it works for most carnivores!

Addionally, the roots of the upper teeth and lower teeth tend to be differently shaped... upper teeth tend to have more of a curl, lower teeth tend to be more straight. Upper teeth have to avoid the sinuses, lower teeth can reach almost the interior bottom of the mandible!



Here is for a bobcat, side views. Same rules for wolverine and a lot of other animals-- the root is flatter, laterally compressed on top. Bottom teeth are more rounded.

 

on this page you will find some help with discerning left and right incisors.
look fex at the lower incisors, the tiny 'spikes' are always on the side towards the canine (if you see what I mean)

http://wolfsongalaska.org/chorus/node/18