Human teeth function to mechanically break down items of food by cutting and crushing them in preparation for swallowing and digesting. As such, they are considered part of the human digestive system. Humans have four types of teeth: incisors, canines, premolars, and molars, which each have a specific function. The incisors cut the food, the canines tear the food and the molars and premolars crush the food. The roots of teeth are embedded in the maxilla or the mandible and are covered by gums. Teeth are made of multiple tissues of varying density and hardness.
Cementum is a specialized calcified substance covering the root of a tooth. The cementum is the part of the periodontium that attaches the teeth to the alveolar bone by anchoring the periodontal ligament.
Tooth enamel is one of the four major tissues that make up the tooth in humans and many animals, including some species of fish. It makes up the normally visible part of the tooth, covering the crown. The other major tissues are dentin, cementum, and dental pulp. It is a very hard, white to off-white, highly mineralised substance that acts as a barrier to protect the tooth but can become susceptible to degradation, especially by acids from food and drink. In rare circumstances enamel fails to form, leaving the underlying dentin exposed on the surface.
Dentin or dentine is a calcified tissue of the body and, along with enamel, cementum, and pulp, is one of the four major components of teeth. It is usually covered by enamel on the crown and cementum on the root and surrounds the entire pulp. By volume, 45% of dentin consists of the mineral hydroxyapatite, 33% is organic material, and 22% is water. Yellow in appearance, it greatly affects the color of a tooth due to the translucency of enamel. Dentin, which is less mineralized and less brittle than enamel, is necessary for the support of enamel. Dentin rates approximately 3 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. There are two main characteristics which distinguish dentin from enamel: firstly, dentin forms throughout life; secondly, dentin is sensitive and can become hypersensitive to changes in temperature due to the sensory function of odontoblasts, especially when enamel recedes and dentin channels become exposed.
Ameloblasts are cells present only during tooth development that deposit tooth enamel, which is the hard outermost layer of the tooth forming the surface of the crown.
Enamelin is an enamel matrix protein (EMPs), that in humans is encoded by the ENAM gene. It is part of the non-amelogenins, which comprise 10% of the total enamel matrix proteins. It is one of the key proteins thought to be involved in amelogenesis. The formation of enamel's intricate architecture is thought to be rigorously controlled in ameloblasts through interactions of various organic matrix protein molecules that include: enamelin, amelogenin, ameloblastin, tuftelin, dentine sialophosphoprotein, and a variety of enzymes. Enamelin is the largest protein (~168kDa) in the enamel matrix of developing teeth and is the least abundant of total enamel matrix proteins. It is present predominantly at the growing enamel surface.
Ameloblastin is an enamel matrix protein that in humans is encoded by the AMBN gene.
Tuftelin is an acidic phosphorylated glycoprotein found in tooth enamel. In humans, the tuftelin protein is encoded by the TUFT1 gene. It is an acidic protein that is thought to play a role in dental enamel mineralization and is implicated in caries susceptibility. It is also thought to be involved with adaptation to hypoxia, mesenchymal stem cell function, and neurotrophin nerve growth factor mediated neuronal differentiation.
The striae of Retzius are incremental growth lines or bands seen in tooth enamel. They represent the incremental pattern of enamel, the successive apposition of different layers of enamel during crown formation.
The enamel organ, also known as the dental organ, is a cellular aggregation seen in a developing tooth and it lies above the dental papilla. The enamel organ which is differentiated from the primitive oral epithelium lining the stomodeum. The enamel organ is responsible for the formation of enamel, initiation of dentine formation, establishment of the shape of a tooth's crown, and establishment of the dentoenamel junction.
Tooth development or odontogenesis is the complex process by which teeth form from embryonic cells, grow, and erupt into the mouth. For human teeth to have a healthy oral environment, all parts of the tooth must develop during appropriate stages of fetal development. Primary (baby) teeth start to form between the sixth and eighth week of prenatal development, and permanent teeth begin to form in the twentieth week. If teeth do not start to develop at or near these times, they will not develop at all, resulting in hypodontia or anodontia.
In embryology and prenatal development, the dental papilla is a condensation of ectomesenchymal cells called odontoblasts, seen in histologic sections of a developing tooth. It lies below a cellular aggregation known as the enamel organ. The dental papilla appears after 8–10 weeks of intra uteral life. The dental papilla gives rise to the dentin and pulp of a tooth.
In vertebrates, an odontoblast is a cell of neural crest origin that is part of the outer surface of the dental pulp, and whose biological function is dentinogenesis, which is the formation of dentin, the substance beneath the tooth enamel on the crown and the cementum on the root.
In animal tooth development, dentinogenesis is the formation of dentin, a substance that forms the majority of teeth. Dentinogenesis is performed by odontoblasts, which are a special type of biological cell on the outer wall of dental pulps, and it begins at the late bell stage of a tooth development. The different stages of dentin formation after differentiation of the cell result in different types of dentin: mantle dentin, primary dentin, secondary dentin, and tertiary dentin.
An odontoblast process is an extension of a cell called an odontoblast, which forms dentin in a tooth. The odontoblast process is located in dentinal tubules. It forms during dentinogenesis and results from a part of the odontoblast staying in its location as the main body of the odontoblast moves toward the center of the tooth's pulp. The odontoblast process causes the secretion of hydroxyapatite crystals and mineralization of the matrix secreted by the odontoblasts.
Enamel tufts are hypomineralized ribbon-like structures that run longitudinally to the tooth axis and extend from the dentinoenamel junction (DEJ) one fifth to a third into the enamel. They are called ‘‘tufts’’ due to their wavy look within the enamel microstructure.
Dentin sialophosphoprotein is a precursor protein for other proteins found in the teeth. It is produced by cells (odontoblasts) inside the teeth, and in smaller quantities by bone tissues. It is required for normal hardening (mineralisation) of teeth. During teeth development, it is broken down into three proteins such as dentin sialoprotein (DSP), dentin glycoprotein (DGP), and dentin phosphoprotein (DPP). These proteins become the major non-collagenous components of teeth. Their distribution in the collagen matrix of the forming dentin suggests these proteins play an important role in the regulation of mineral deposition. Additional evidence for this correlation is phenotypically manifested in patients with mutant forms of dentin sialophosphoprotein. Such patients suffer dental anomalies including type III dentinogenesis imperfecta.
Dentin sialoprotein is a protein found in teeth. It is one of the two proteins produced by the segmentation of dentin sialophosphoprotein. Dentin sialoprotein can be found in the dentin immediately subjacent to cellular cementum, but not subjacent to acellular fibrous cementum.
Amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) is a congenital disorder which presents with a rare abnormal formation of the enamel or external layer of the crown of teeth, unrelated to any systemic or generalized conditions. Enamel is composed mostly of mineral, that is formed and regulated by the proteins in it. Amelogenesis imperfecta is due to the malfunction of the proteins in the enamel as a result of abnormal enamel formation via amelogenesis.
Hard tissue, refers to "normal" calcified tissue, is the tissue which is mineralized and has a firm intercellular matrix. The hard tissues of humans are bone, tooth enamel, dentin, and cementum. The term is in contrast to soft tissue.
