Dantā
Teeth
Dantā — the teeth, fourth item of the canonical list and the closer of the skin-pentad. Visuddhimagga VIII.86 catalogues the 32 teeth (the Pali count, including the third molars) by shape, colour, and arrangement: 'set in the bones of the jaw, the upper row pointing downward, the lower row pointing upward'. The reflection is on the teeth as bare bone-pegs sunk in living tissue, not as the smile that conceals them.
Point 2 of 8 in Theravāda 32 Parts of the Body (Dvattiṃsākāra)
Cross-tradition overlaps
No overlapping points are registered for this point.
Sources
Majjhima Nikāya 10.10 (primary_canonical)
“In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, contents of the stomach, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, saliva, mucus, oil of the joints, and urine.”
MN 10.10 places teeth (dantā) fourth in the paṭikūla-manasikāra enumeration of bodily parts, within the body-contemplation exercise that treats the body as a composite of unattractive elements.
Visuddhimagga VIII.86 (primary_canonical)
“There are normally thirty-two teeth in one whose teeth are complete; they are like areca-nut sprouts set in the moist bone.”