Tooth

A mineralized oral structure involved in food acquisition or processing. dental occlusion, replacement pattern and tissue distribution can be more informative than gross shape alone.

A specialized cell producing dentine. Its tissue contribution differs from that of an ameloblast.

A mineralized dental tissue formed by odontoblasts. It differs developmentally and structurally from the outer enamel coating of a typical human tooth crown.

A highly mineralized epithelial product formed by ameloblasts, distinct from dentine. fossil tissue distributions and enamel-matrix gene expression support an ancestry in dermal coverings deeper than its familiar deployment on teeth.^[ref]

An organized structural unit of mammalian crown enamel. Its architecture is a derived tissue organization, distinct from the deeper origin of the enamel tissue itself.

The arrangement and complement of teeth, including their classes, positions and replacement pattern.

A highly mineralized dental tissue. Its distribution and wear relative to other tissues help maintain functional tooth surfaces.

An anterior tooth class specialized in diverse ways for cropping, cutting or gnawing.

A posterior tooth class important in many forms of food processing. Molar form varies with lineage, position and wear.

A tooth class lying in front of the molars in the typical heterodont mammalian arrangement.

An occlusal construction combining shearing and crushing, with the lower molar talonid basin interacting with an upper cusp. Similar functional geometry does not alone settle whether all examples share one evolutionary origin.

Assessment of macroscopic wear-related cusp shape and relief. It integrates a different temporal scale of food processing from dental microwear.

Small wear features on tooth surfaces used to infer food processing near the end of the wear record. Diet, external grit, preparation and post-mortem damage must be distinguished.

Continued growth of a tooth, distinguished from a tall but finite reserve crown in hypsodonty.

A high-crowned tooth construction supplying a reserve against wear. It differs from hypselodonty, and is not by itself proof of a grass diet.

A dental construction with crescentic ridges, characteristic of many ruminants.

A dental construction in which cusps are connected into ridges. Ridge arrangement and wear influence the cutting and grinding performance of the surface.

A specialized shearing tooth. In Carnivora the principal opposing pair is the upper fourth premolar and lower first molar; other predatory lineages can specialize different teeth.

A replacement pattern with two successive generations for the replaced tooth classes. It should not be taken to mean every tooth in the jaw is replaced exactly once.

The relationship and contact of opposing teeth during jaw closure and chewing. Precise correspondence of opposing surfaces permits specialized cutting and grinding.