Cheek teeth Cheek teeth Cheek teeth or post-canines comprise the molar and premolar teeth in mammals. Cheek teeth are multicuspidate (having many folds or tubercles). Mammals have multicuspidate molars (three in placentals, four in marsupials, in each jaw quadrant) and premolars situated between canines and molars whose shape and number varies considerably among particular groups. Cheek teeth are sometimes separated from the incisors by a gap called a diastema. Cheek teeth in reptiles are much simpler as compared to mammals. Apart from helping grind the food to properly reduce the size of substrates for stomach enzymes, their minor role is in giving
Pharyngeal teeth (family Catostomidae) has a single row of pharyngeal teeth with comb-like arrangements. The Cape Fear shiner (family Cyprinidae) only has pharyngeal teeth, similar to the teeth of other omnivorous shiners. The redear sunfish (family Centrarchidae) has thick pharyngeal teeth composed of hard, movable plates, which it uses to crush the exoskeletons of prey. The pharyngeal jaws of the moray eel (family Muraenidae) possess their own set of teeth. The dentary of the ghost knifefish species "Sternarchogiton nattereri" (family Apteronotidae) has upper and lower pharyngeal tooth plates bearing 9-11 and 7-9 teeth, respectively. The mouth cone ("everted pharynx") of a possible