Tooth Morphology Workbook 1

Tooth Morphology Workbook 1

• The workbook is to be used alongside sessions on dentition/tooth morphology
• Learning outcomes include recognition of tooth structure and surrounding tissues, understanding tooth functions, and clinical application of dental notations for primary and secondary teeth
• Terminology used in tooth morphology is crucial for recognizing various landmarks on tooth surfaces

Tooth Structure

• Dentine: Forms the bulk of the tooth, tough, slightly elastic, yellow in colour. Reacts to injury and stimuli. Can repair itself. Supports enamel and protects pulp.
• Enamel: A tough connective tissue layer covering the root. Embedded within the dentine walls.

Dental Terminology

• Abrasion: Physical wearing away of tooth substance

• Alignment: Arranging teeth in a line

• Alveolar process: Bone of the maxilla and mandible supporting teeth

• Apex: Tip of the root

• Apical foramen: Opening at the apex, where blood, nerves and lymph pass

• Atrophy: Wasting away of tissue

• Attrition: Wearing down of occlusal/incisal surfaces by use

• Bifurcation: Point where two roots divide

• Canine: Third tooth from the midline, used for gripping

• Cervical: Pertaining to the neck of the tooth

• Cingulum: Lingual or palatal lobe found on incisor teeth

• Cusp: Peak on the occlusal surfaces of teeth

• Cusp of Carabelli: Extra cusp on the mesio-palatal surface of first maxillary permanent molars

• Contact point: Where two teeth meet to form an interproximal area

• Deciduous: Old term for primary dentition

• Developmental groove: Linear indentations dividing cusps, formed during crown development

• Diastema: Spacing between teeth, often seen between upper central incisors

• Disto-incisal angle: Point where distal and incisal edges meet

• Embrasure: Spillway space where teeth diverge from contact points

• Eminence: General term for a protuberance or bulge

• Eruption: Process where teeth emerge through gingivae

• Fissure: Fault caused by imperfect joining of developmental lobes, found on occlusal or buccal surfaces

• Fossa: Shallow depression

• Foramen: Small opening for blood, nerves and vessels to pass

• Pulp horn: Pulp projection towards cusp or incisal edge

• Incisor: First and second teeth from the midline, used for cutting

• Incisal edge: Biting edge of incisors

• Interdental/interproximal: Space between contact areas and interdental bone

• Labial: Pertaining to the lips

• Lingual: Pertaining to the tongue

• Malocclusion: Abnormal occlusion of teeth

• Mamelons: Rounded protuberances on newly erupted teeth

• Marginal ridge: Enamel ridges at mesial and distal edges of teeth

• Mastication: Act of chewing

• Mesio-incisal angle: Point where mesial and incisal edges meet

• Molar: Sixth, seventh and eighth permanent tooth from the midline

• Oblique ridge: Ridge running obliquely across occlusal surfaces of maxillary molars

• Occlusal: Biting surface

• Occlusion: Relationship of upper and lower teeth when jaws are closed together

• Palatal: Pertaining to the palate

• Periodontal: Surrounding the tooth

• Pit: Small, pointed depression at junction of two or more developmental grooves

• Pulp: Vital part of the tooth contained in the pulp chamber

• Ridge: Linear elevation on tooth surface

• Root trunk: Part of the root between cervix and point of separation of the roots

• Transverse ridge: Ridge descending from cusp tip to the central part of the occlusal surface

• Trifurcation: Point of division of three roots

• Tubercle: Rounded elevation on the crown surface, often a deviation from the norm

Dental Notation

• Various methods such as Palmer notation and FDI notation for identifying teeth are used in dentistry.