Dental Terms

Front 1

ALVEOLUS

Back 1

A boney socket for the root or roots of teeth.

Front 2

DENTARY

Back 2

One of the pair of bones that comprise the mandible. Includes body and ramus.

Front 3

MANDIBLE

Back 3

Composed of a single pair of separate bones, the dentaries.

Front 4

MAXILLA

Back 4

One of a pair of large bones that form part of the upper jaw, carrying teeth; it also forms portions of the rostrum, hard palate, and zygomatic arch.

Front 5

PREMAXILLA

Back 5

One of the paired bones at the anterior end of the rostrum that frequently bear teeth. Includes the palatal and nasal branches.

Front 6

CEMENTUM

Back 6

The layer of bone-like material covering the root of a tooth.

Front 7

CROWN

Back 7

The portion of the tooth extending above the gumline.

Front 8

DENTINE

Back 8

A hard, generally acellular material between the pulp and enamel portions of a tooth.

Front 9

ENAMEL

Back 9

Material comprising the extremely hard outer layer of the crown of the tooth, consisting of calcareous compounds and a small amount of organic matrix.

Front 10

PULP

Back 10

Collectively, the nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue occupying the pulp chamber and root canals of a tooth.

Front 11

ROOT

Back 11

A portion of a tooth that lies below the gumline and fills an alveolus

Front 12

BUCCAL

Back 12

Cheeks or mouth cavity as a whole. A buccal tooth side is the side touching the cheek.

Front 13

LABIAL

Back 13

Lips

Front 14

LINGUAL

Back 14

Tongue

Front 15

OCCLUSAL SURFACE

Back 15

The surfaces of contact in the upper and lower teeth.

Front 16

QUADRANT

Back 16

Each of the four tooth-bearing sections of the skull: the right and left premaxillae/maxillae and the two dentaries.

Front 17

CINGULUM/CINGULID

Back 17

An enamel shelf, frequently with cusps, that borders one or more margins of an upper tooth.

Front 18

CUSP

Back 18

A point, projection, or bump on the crown of a tooth.

Front 19

ECTOLOPH

Back 19

A crista, generally connecting parastyle, paracone, metacone, and metastyle.

Hint 19

crista = crest

Front 20

LOPH

Back 20

A ridge on the occlusal surface of a tooth, formed by the elongation and fusion of cusps.

Front 21

ROOTED TEETH

Back 21

A tooth that is ever-growing, having a permanently and widely open root canal

Front 22

ACRODONT

Back 22

an animal having teeth consolidated with the summit of the alveolar ridge without sockets

Front 23

PLEURODONT

Back 23

an animal having teeth fused with the summit of the alveolar ridge without sockets

Front 24

THECODONT

Back 24

having teeth inserted in sockets

Hint 24

socket tooth

Front 25

DECIDUOUS DENTITION

Back 25

The juvenile or milk dentition of mammals. A complete set of temporary incisors and canines. “Baby teeth”

Front 26

PERMANENT TEETH

Back 26

Teeth in the replacement dentition. Succeed the milk and or deciduous teeth. “Permanent teeth”

Front 27

DIPHYODONT

Back 27

Having two sets of teeth: deciduous and permanent set

Front 28

MONOPHYODONT

Back 28

Having a single set teeth, with none being replaced

Front 29

POLYPHYODONT

Back 29

Having more than two sets of teeth in a lifetime

Front 30

CANINE

Back 30

One of the four basic kinds of teeth found in mammals. The anteriormost tooth in the maxilla. Frequently elongated, unicuspid, and and single rooted

Front 31

CANIFORM

Back 31

An incisor or premolar that has the shape and appearance of a canine.

Front 32

CHEEK TEETH

Back 32

Collectively, the premolars and molars or any teeth posterior to the position of the canines.

Front 33

DENTAL FORMULA

Back 33

Way of expressing the numbers of teeth of different sorts in an individual or species. The letters designate incisors, canines, premolars, and molars. The numbers above the line give the numbers of teeth of each sort on one side of the upper jaw, those below the line indicate the number on one side of the lower jaw.

Front 34

INCISIFORM

Back 34

A canine or other tooth that has the shape and appearance of an incisor.

Front 35

MOLAR

Back 35

Any cheek tooth situated posterior to the premolars and having no deciduous precursor.

Front 36

MOLARIFORM

Back 36

Teeth that have the shape and appearance of molars, regardless of whether they are true molar teeth.

Front 37

PREMOLARS

Back 37

Located anterior to the molars and posterior to the canine. Some are the only cheek teeth normally represented in both the milk and replacement dentitions.

Front 38

BICUSPID

Back 38

A tooth having two major cusps (premolar)

Front 39

CUSPIDATE

Back 39

Presence of cusps on a tooth.

Front 40

UNICUSPID

Back 40

A tooth having a single cusp.

Front 41

DIPROTODONT

Back 41

A dental configuration found in the Paucituberculata and Diprotdontia. The lower jaw is shortened, and the first lower incisors are greatly elongated.

Hint 41

Two first teeth

Front 42

POLYPROTODONT

Back 42

Dentition in several orders of marsupials in which the lower jaw is equal in length tooth upper jaw and the lower incisors are small and unspecialized.

Front 43

BRACHYODONT

Back 43

Pertaining to teeth that have low crowns

Hint 43

brachy - short

Front 44

HYPSODONT

Back 44

High crowned tooth

Front 45

TRIBOSPHENIC CHEEK TEETH

Back 45

An upper molar with three main cusps in a triangular pattern or lower molar with a triangular arrangement of the trigonid and adjacent talonid.

Front 46

DILAMBODONT

Back 46

W shaped ectoloph on the occlusal surface.

Front 47

ZALAMBODONT

Back 47

V shaped ectoloph on the occlusal surface.

Front 48

EUTHEMORPHIC TEETH

Back 48

A modified tribosphenic tooth, frequently square in outline

Front 49

QUADRITUBERCULAR

Back 49

An upper cheek tooth with four major cusps; the paracone, metacone, protocone, and hypocone

Front 50

BUNODONT

Back 50

Low crowned teeth with roughly hemispherical cusps

Front 51

CARNASSIAL (SECODONT) DENTITION

Back 51

With cheek teeth that have a cutting or shearing action adapted for a carnivorous diet.

Front 52

DIASTEMA

Back 52

A pronounced gap between adjacent teeth.

Front 53

LOPHODONT

Back 53

A tooth with an occlusal surface pattern consisting of lophs.

Front 54

SELENODONT

Back 54

Molariform teeth having longitudinally oriented, crescent-shaped ridges on the crown.

Front 55

SELENOLOPHODONT

Back 55

Cheek teeth that have features of both selendont and lophodont teeth.

Front 56

HETERODONT

Back 56

Teeth that vary in form and function and generally include incisors, canines, premolars, and molars.

Front 57

HOMODONT

Back 57

Teeth that do not vary in form and functionl; often peglike in structure, as in toothed whales and xenarthrans