Adults usually have 12 molars in total, or 8 if their wisdom teeth are missing or removed.

Quick Scoop

  • With wisdom teeth:
    Most adults have 12 molars – 3 in each quadrant of the mouth (upper right, upper left, lower right, lower left).

These include the first, second, and third molars (the third molars are the wisdom teeth).

  • Without wisdom teeth:
    If your four wisdom teeth are removed or never develop, you typically have 8 molars – 2 in each quadrant.
  • Function:
    Molars sit at the very back and do about 90% of the heavy chewing, grinding food so it’s easy to swallow.

Kids vs adults

  • Children’s primary (baby) teeth include fewer molars and no true wisdom teeth; the full 12 adult molars come in stages, with the third molars often erupting between the late teens and early twenties, and sometimes not at all.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.