An animal’s dentition is one of its most important physical attributes because it can tell you a lot about how it lived, what it ate, and other aspects of its lifestyle.
Fortunately, the teeth are also one of the best-preserved bones in fossil animals.
Many of the dinosaurs found so far are known from their skull and teeth fossils, which makes it easier for scientists to infer their diet and other related attributes.
While some dinosaurs had very few teeth in their jaws, some of them had a complex dentition characterized by numerous, densely-packed teeth.
Although the idea of a giant dinosaur with a mouth full of teeth may sound scary, most of the dinosaurs on this list are herbivores, which means they were not particularly dangerous.
In this article, we provide a comprehensive overview of 15 dinosaurs with the most teeth.
It is worth noting that not all dinosaurs found so far had their skull and teeth fossils preserved in good condition.
This makes it difficult to determine the exact number of teeth each dinosaur had.
However, for this article, we’ll list some of the most notable dinosaurs whose tooth count we can determine to a reliable level of certainty based on the available fossil evidence.
15. Apatosaurus
| Name | Apatosaurus |
| Name Meaning | “Deceptive Lizard” |
| Pronunciation | uh-PAT-uh-SAW-rus |
| Era | Mesozoic – Late Jurassic |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Saurischia & Sauropoda |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Height | 4.5 meters (15 feet) |
| Length | 21 meters (70 feet) |
| Weight | 40 tons (80,000 lbs) |
| Location | USA & Canada (North America) |
Apatosaurus was a large sauropod with up to 56 pencil-shaped teeth lining its jaws.
Interestingly, this dinosaur didn’t use its teeth for chewing plants.
Instead, it swallowed food whole, and the teeth were only useful for raking vegetation into its mouth.
To process food, the Apatosaurus swallowed gastroliths, similar to the gizzard stones of modern birds, which aided in digesting the coarse plant materials that formed the bulk of their diet.
14. Camarasaurus
| Name | Camarasaurus |
| Name Meaning | “Chambered lizard” |
| Pronunciation | Cam-ah-rah-sore-us |
| Era | Mesozoic – Late Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Saurischia & Sauropoda |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Height | 4.5-7.5 meters (15–25 feet) |
| Length | 15-20 meters (50-65 feet) |
| Weight | 20 tons (40,000 lbs) |
| Location | North America |
Camarasaurus is one of the most well-known sauropod dinosaurs because its fossils are frequently preserved in the Jurassic rocks of North America.
Although it was a herbivore, this dinosaur lacked an intricate dental battery.
Instead, its dentition was characterized by about 56 individual teeth.
However, each tooth of this dinosaur had a distinct spatula shape and showed wear patterns that suggested a diet of tough materials.
The most interesting aspect of this dinosaur’s dentition is the fact that its jaws showed more gum than teeth.
Experts think about half of this dinosaur’s tooth enamel was covered by gums, which is quite peculiar for a dinosaur.
13. Tyrannosaurus Rex
| Name | Tyrannosaurus |
| Name Meaning | “Tyrant lizard” |
| Pronunciation | Tie-RAN-oh-SAWR-uhs |
| Era | Mesozoic – Late Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Saurischia, Theropoda |
| Diet | Carnivorous |
| Height | 4–6 meters (13–20 feet) |
| Length | 12–15 meters (40–50 feet) |
| Weight | 5–8 tons (11,000–18,000 lbs) |
| Location | United States and Canada (North America) |
The king of tyrant lizards had one of the most formidable dentitions in the dinosaur world.
Although the total tooth count was not very high, each tooth was massive.
The tooth measured about 12 inches, the largest of any meat-eating dinosaur found so far.
The T-rex’s jaws were also supported by strong muscles, allowing it to deliver the strongest bite-force of any known terrestrial carnivore bone-crushing force of up to 57,000 Newtons.
The dinosaur’s teeth were closely packed, and many of them were serrated.
12. Spinosaurus
| Name | Spinosaurus |
| Name Meaning | “Spined lizard” |
| Pronunciation | SPY-noh-SAW-rus |
| Era | Mesozoic – Cretaceous Period |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Saurischia & Theropoda |
| Diet | Carnivorous |
| Height | 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) |
| Length | 12 to 18 meters (39 to 59 feet) |
| Weight | 6 to 12 tons (13,000 to 26,000 pounds) |
| Location | Africa |
The Spinosaurus is the largest terrestrial carnivore to have ever lived.
Due to the crocodile-like jaws of this dinosaur, experts believed it most likely hunted aquatic prey on the coast of North Africa, where it lived.
Its dentition also seemed to have been adapted to this style of hunting.
The front of its snout was lined with several large teeth that could interlock to snag and hold on to slippery prey like fish effectively.
Spinosaurus had up to 38 teeth in its upper jaw alone, and its total tooth count was about 68.
11. Carcharodontosaurus
| Name | Carcharodontosaurus |
| Name Meaning | “Shark-toothed lizard” |
| Pronunciation | kar-kah-roh-DON-toh-SAWR-us |
| Era | Mesozoic – Early Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Saurischia & Theropoda |
| Diet | Carnivorous |
| Height | 4 meters (13 feet) |
| Length | 12–14 meters (39–46 feet) |
| Weight | 6.6 and 16 tons (14,000–35,000 lbs) |
| Location | Argentina (South America) |
The Carcharodontosaurus is named for its unique dentition.
The dinosaur’s name translates as “shark-toothed lizard” because of the similarities between its dentition and that of the great white shark.
Carcharodontosaurus had some of the largest teeth of any dinosaur, which is fitting since it was also one of the largest theropod dinosaurs ever discovered.
Its jaws were lined with about 68 thin and heavily serrated teeth effective for shearing and cutting flesh.
The thin nature of these teeth suggests that they could not withstand significant impact.
This massive theropod was one of the apex predators of Cretaceous North Africa.
10. Stenonychosaurus
| Name | Stenonychosaurus |
| Name Meaning | “Narrow Claw Lizard” |
| Pronunciation | Sten-oh-NY-koh-SAWR-us |
| Era | Mesozoic – Late Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Saurischia & Theropoda |
| Diet | Carnivorous |
| Height | 0.7 meters (2.3 feet) |
| Length | 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) |
| Weight | 35 kilograms (77 lbs) |
| Location | Canada, USA (North America) |
With up to 122 teeth at the back of its jaws, Stenonychosaurus had the most teeth of any meat-eating dinosaur.
However, some experts have argued that this dinosaur was probably omnivorous, meaning it ate both plant and animal materials.
The shape of the Stenonychosaurus’ jaws was similar to that of the modern Iguana (a plant-eating lizard), but the teeth had striations, indicative of a meat-eating habit.
Other adaptations, such as a sickle claw on the dinosaur’s foot and good binocular vision, also supported the idea that this dinosaur hunted prey (at least partially) even if it wasn’t fully carnivorous.
9. Iguanodon
| Name | Iguanodon |
| Name Meaning | “Iguana teeth” |
| Pronunciation | ig-WAH-nuh-don |
| Era | Mesozoic – Early Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Ornithischia & Ornithopoda |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Height | 2.7 meters (9 feet) |
| Length | 9–11 meters (30–36 feet) |
| Weight | 4.5 tons (10,000 lbs) |
| Location | Europe |
Unlike other herbivorous dinosaurs, such as the hadrosaurids and sauropods, ornithopods like the Iguanodon didn’t have an intricate dental battery.
Their beaks were also toothless, but they had numerous individual teeth in their mouth, with just one replacement tooth for each position.
The upper jaw of the Iguanodon had about 29 teeth on each side, while their lower jaws had about 25 teeth on each side.
This brings the total tooth count for this dinosaur to about 158 on average.
The Iguanodon was a bulky dinosaur whose diet would have included various tough plant materials, including horsetails, cycads, and conifers.
They grazed on plants at ground level and could browse on trees as high as 15 meters above the ground.
8. Nigersaurus
| Name | Nigersaurus |
| Name Meaning | “Niger Reptile” |
| Pronunciation | NYE-jer-SAWR-us |
| Era | Mesozoic – Early Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Saurischia & Sauropoda |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Height | 2–3 meters (6.5–10 feet) |
| Length | 9–12 meters (30–40 feet) |
| Weight | 1.9 – 4 metric tons (4,188–8,818 lbs) |
| Location | Africa (Niger) |
The Nigersaurus was famous not just for the number of teeth in its jaws but also for the way they were arranged.
This small to medium-sized sauropod dinosaur had up to 500 active and replacement teeth in its jaws.
Both the maxillary teeth and dentary teeth of this dinosaur were transversely rotated at a 90-degree angle.
The teeth were arranged in front of the dinosaur’s jaws, which made the jaws extremely wide and elongated, forming a shovel-like shape.
The Nigersaurus is the only dinosaur with jaws wider than its skull this way.
All the teeth were the same shape, but the ones in the lower jaws were slightly smaller than those in the upper jaw.
7. Diplodocus
| Name | Diplodocus |
| Name Meaning | “Double Beam” |
| Pronunciation | Dip-loh-DOH-kus |
| Era | Mesozoic – Late Jurassic |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Saurischia & Sauropoda |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Height | 4-5 meters (13-16 feet) |
| Length | 24–26 meters (79–85 feet) |
| Weight | 11–18 tons (22,000–36,000 lbs) |
| Location | North America |
Diplodocus is one of the largest sauropod dinosaurs ever discovered.
It had an extremely long neck and tail and could easily feed from the top of trees.
This dinosaur ate tough vegetation, and its teeth got worn down easily.
To cope with this, the teeth of the Diplodocus were constantly replaced by new ones every 35 days.
This dinosaur had rows of small peg-shaped teeth arranged anteriorly in its jaws.
Each tooth socket had about five teeth growing in them at any given time, bringing the total number of teeth in this dinosaur’s jaws to about 800 on average.
6. Triceratops
| Name | Triceratops |
| Name Meaning | “Three-horned face” |
| Pronunciation | Trih-SAIR-uh-tops |
| Era | Mesozoic – Late Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Ornithischia, & Ceratopsia |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Height | 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) |
| Length | 9 meters (30 feet) |
| Weight | 5 to 9 tons (10,000–18,000 lbs) |
| Location | USA & Canada (North America) |
The three-horned dinosaur is famous for its large bony frills and massive horns, but one “less-talked about” attribute of this dinosaur was its impressive dentition.
One of the giant herbivores of the Cretaceous Period, the Triceratops had up to 40 columns of teeth in its jaws, each one lined with about five individual teeth.
The teeth were constantly being replenished, and a fully grown Triceratops would have used more than 800 teeth in its lifetime.
Triceratops also had a long horny beak for plucking and grasping plants.
The beaks were made of keratin material but were toothless.
5. Maiasaura
| Name | Maiasaura |
| Name Meaning | “Good mother lizard” |
| Pronunciation | my-uh-SAWR-uh |
| Era | Mesozoic – Late Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Ornithischia, Ornithopoda |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Height | 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) |
| Length | 9 meters (29.5 feet) |
| Weight | 4 metric tons (4.4 short tons) |
| Location | North America |
Commonly referred to as the “good mother lizard” because it exhibited nesting behavior, Maiasaura was a hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur).
There were no teeth in the front section of this dinosaur’s mouth.
Instead, they had a horny beak for cropping vegetation.
The back of their jaws was lined with a dental battery made up of numerous rows of teeth.
The estimated tooth count for this dinosaur is about 900 short, sturdy teeth effective for chewing and crushing plant materials.
This dinosaur ate various plant materials, including fibrous plants, ferns, leaves, and even wood, and had a dentition adapted to processing these tough plant materials.
4. Saurolophus
| Name | Saurolophus |
| Name Meaning“ | “Lizard crest” |
| Pronunciation | Sore-oh-loaf-us |
| Era | Mesozoic – Late Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Ornithischia, Ornithopoda |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Height | 2.5-4 meters (8.2-13.1 feet) |
| Length | 8.2-13 meters (27-42.6 feet) |
| Weight | 2.9-10.8 metric tons (3.3-12 short tons) |
| Location | Alberta, Canada; Mongolia, China |
Saurolophus was a hadrosaurid dinosaur whose genus name translates as “crested lizard” because of the distinct crest on its skull.
An equally notable part of this dinosaur’s skull was its jaws, which were lined with several rows of teeth.
The total tooth count for this dinosaur has been estimated to be about 900.
These teeth were arranged in tightly packed rows to form an efficient dental battery for processing plant materials.
The teeth were arranged in about 45 columns, and each one had about four to five teeth on average.
The teeth were also constantly being replaced, so Sauroplophus always had a fresh supply of sharp teeth for grinding up the tough plant material that formed the bulk of its diet.
3. Edmontosaurus
| Name | Edmonotosaurus |
| Name Meaning | “The lizard from Edmonton” |
| Pronunciation | Ed-mo-toe-sore-us |
| Era | Mesozoic – Late Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Ornithischia, Ornithopoda |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Height | 4 meters (13 feet) |
| Length | 9–12 meters (29.5–39.3 feet) |
| Weight | 4 metric tons (4.4 short tons) |
| Location | North America |
Edmontosaurus was one of the largest hadrosaurid dinosaurs ever discovered.
This robust herbivore had a keratinous beak for cropping leaves from trees.
The beak measured up to eight centimeters (3.1 inches) beyond the jaw bones.
This dinosaur also had a complex dentition for processing its food, characterized by tightly packed rows of teeth.
The teeth grew in columns, with up to six teeth in each column.
The exact columns varied between 48 and 53 for each jaw bone.
In total, the number of teeth in this dinosaur’s mouth may have been as much as 1,000.
2. Parasaurolophus
| Name | Parasaurolophus |
| Name Meaning | “Near crested lizard” |
| Pronunciation | Para-sore-oh-loaf-us |
| Era | Mesozoic – Late Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Ornithischia, Ornithopoda |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Height | 2.7 meters (8.8 feet) |
| Length | 11.45 m (37.5 feet) |
| Weight | 2.47 metric tons (2.72 short tons) |
| Location | North America |
Parasaurolophus was one of the largest hadrosaurid dinosaurs of the Cretaceous Period.
It is most famous for its snorkel-shaped crest, which was probably useful for communicating or warning other dinosaurs of danger.
Parasaurolophus had a typical duck-billed mouth with a jaw that held about 1,000 tiny teeth.
The teeth were constantly replaced throughout the dinosaur’s lifetime, ensuring an endless supply of strong, wear-free teeth.
Parasaurolophus had a selective diet that consisted of tough plant materials such as twigs and pine needles.
The jaws of this dinosaur had a cheek-like organ that could hold a lot of vegetation at once while chewing.
1. Hadrosaurus
| Name | Hadrosaurus |
| Name Meaning | “Bulky lizard” |
| Pronunciation | Ha-dro-sore-us |
| Era | Mesozoic – Late Cretaceous |
| Classification | Dinosauria, Ornithischia, Ornithopoda |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Height | 3.2 meters (10.4 feet) |
| Length | 7–8 meters (23–26.2 feet) |
| Weight | 2-4 metric tons (2.2-4.4 short tons) |
| Location | North America (New Jersey) |
The Hadrosaurus lends its name to an entire group of dinosaurs known as the duck-billed dinosaurs (hadrosaurids).
This was one of the largest families of herbivorous dinosaurs, known for several notable genera.
Although all duck-billed dinosaurs have an impressive dentition made up of several teeth, the name of the Hadrosaurus comes up frequently as the toothiest dinosaur.
The teeth of the Hadrosaurus were arranged in columns (dental batteries) and numbered up to 1,500 by the most generous estimates.
Even the smallest estimates of this dinosaur’s teeth show that it had as much as 940 teeth in its jaws.
Each tooth was diamond-shaped, effective for shredding and grinding plant materials.
Hadrosaurus inhabited North America during the Late Cretaceous Period.
Sources:
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121011151625.htm#
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triceratops
- https://paulsereno.uchicago.edu/discoveries/nigersaurus/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiasaura
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguanodon
- https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2020/3170-histology-of-spinosaurid-teeth
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatosaurus#
Jerry Young is a self-proclaimed prehistoric animal nerd. He has been fascinated with these ancient creatures for as long as he can remember, and his passion for them continues to this day. With his extensive knowledge and love for prehistoric animals, he is the perfect fit for Gage Beasley Prehistoric.
