Denticle (tooth feature)

This article is about tooth serrations. For the calcified mass in dental pulp, see Pulp stone. For other uses, see Denticle (disambiguation).

Denticles, also called serrations, are small bumps on a tooth that serve to give the tooth a serrated edge. In paleontology, denticle characteristics such as size and density (denticles per unit distance) are used to describe and classify fossilized teeth, especially those of dinosaurs. Denticles are also present on the teeth of varanoid lizards, sharks, and mammals.[1]

References

  1. Smith, Joshua B.; Vann, David R.; Dodson, Peter (August 2005). "Dental morphology and variation in theropod dinosaurs: Implications for the taxonomic identification of isolated teeth". The Anatomical Record Part A: Discoveries in Molecular, Cellular, and Evolutionary Biology. 285A (2): 699–736. doi:10.1002/ar.a.20206.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/11/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.