C. megalodon - Anterior,          Click Here to See Photo
C. megalodon - Intermediate,    Click Here to See Photo
C. megalodon - Lateral,            Click Here to See Photo
C. megalodon - Posterior          Click Here to See Photo

If you were unfortunate enough to be a Seal lying on the shark's tongue with your tail toward the shark's stomach, this is what you would see if you looked to your left.

Starting at the hinge of the upper jaw, the megalodon had four Posteriors - (P), seven Laterals - (L), one Intermediate - (I), and two Anteriors - (A).   14 teeth on each side for a total of 28 upper jaw teeth.

P4,  P3,  P2  P1        L7,  L6,  L5,  L4,  L3,  L2,  L1,        I1        AIII,  AI

From the back of the mouth, the lower jaw half had four posteriors - (p), eight laterals - (l), no intermediate, and three anteriors - (a).  15 teeth on each side for a total of 30 lower jaw teeth.

p4,  p3,  p2,  p1        l8,  l7,  l6,  l5,  l4,  l3,  l2,  l1,        aiii,  aii,  ai

NOTES:

(1.)  The teeth in a shark's mouth, being "live" teeth, would be pure white with no coloration.

(2.)  In the discussion and drawing above there is no AII, upper jaw anterior tooth.  Most paleontologists believe that this tooth evolved out about the time that Otodus evolved into the Carcharocles line of sharks.  This can be a little confusing.  Just remember that the First Upper Anterior Tooth is the AI and the Second Upper Anterior Tooth is the AIII.

(3.)  In the seal-eye view from inside the mouth, he was looking at what most people call the Display Side of the teeth.  Some people erroneously call this the Front.  The Front Side of a megalodon tooth is actually the Flat Side and the Back is the Display Side.   Other terms you might hear are the Lingual (Tongue) Side and the Labial (Lip) Side.

(4.)  In addition to the front row of teeth, there were 4 additional rows of teeth in various stages of development behind the front row for a total of 290 teeth.