The mandibular lateral incisor is the tooth located distally (away from the midline of the face) from both mandibular central incisors of the mouth and mesially (toward the midline of the face) from both mandibular canines. As with all incisors, their function is for shearing or cutting food during mastication, commonly known as chewing. There are no cusps on the teeth. Instead, the surface area of the tooth used in eating is called an incisal ridge or incisal edge. Though relatively the same, there are some minor differences between the deciduous (baby) mandibular lateral incisor and that of the permanent mandibular lateral incisor.