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What does the word tooth mean?

• One of the hard conical structures set in the alveoli of the upper and lower jaws, employed in mastication and assisting also in articulation. A tooth is a dermal structure, not bone; it is composed of dentine ( substantia eburnea), encased in cement ( substantia ossea) on the covered portion, and enamel ( substantia adamantina), on its exposed portion. It consists of a root ( radix) buried in the alveolus, a neck ( collum) covered by the gum, and a crown ( corona) the exposed portion. In the center is a hollow, the tooth- cavity or pulp- cavity, filled with a connective- tissue reticulum containing a jelly- like substance ( pulpa dentis) and blood- vessels and nerves which enter through a canal at the apex of the root. The 20 milk- teeth or deciduous teeth ( see dens deciduus) appear between the sixth or ninth and the twenty- fourth months of life. These fall out and are replaced by the 32 permanent teeth ( see dens permanens) appearing from the 5th or 7th to the 16th or 23d years. There are four kinds of teeth; incisor ( dens incisivus), canine ( dens caninus), bicuspid or premolar ( dens premolaris), and molar ( dens molaris). See dens, denial, dentition, and teeth.

• [ Latin] An organ for biting and tearing the food, imbedded in the gums and alveolar processes of the upper and lower jaws; comprising the Temporary( Deciduous or Milk) teeth, appearing between the 7th month and the end of the 3d year, and the Permanent teeth, which begin in the 7th year to replace the temporary set. The permanent teeth are 32, including, from before backward, 2 Incisors, 1 Canine( or Cuspid) 2 Biscuspids( False or Small molars) and 3 Molars( Large or True molars, Multicuspids) in each lateral half of each jaw. The milk teeth are 20, namely: 2 Incisors, 1 Canine, and 2 Molars in each half of each jaw. The upper canine t. is the Eye t., the lower canine the Stomach t., while the three permanent molars from before backward are called the Sixth-year molar, Twelfth-year molar, and Wisdom t. Each t. has a crown or body outside of the gum, a root or fang in the alveolus, and a neck connecting the two. The crown terminates in a cutting edge in the incisors, in a single point or cusp in the canine teeth, in two cusps in the bicuspids, and in four or five cusps in the bicuspids, and in four or five cusps in the molars, in which the crown in flattened and adapted for grinding. The molar teeth have from 2 to 5 fangs each; the others generally have but one. A t. consists of a central cavity( pulp-cavity) containing a soft vascular material( pulp); outside of this a layer of very hard calcareous material( dentin, ivory) pierced with radiating canals( dentinal canals); of a layer of bone( cement) covering the fang; and of a very hard layer( enamel) covering the crown and composed of bundles of hexagonal prisms( enamel rods) separated by interspaces which communicate indirectly with the dentinal canals. A structureless membrane( enamel cuticle) covers the enamel at one period of its development. Lining the inner surface of the dentin is a layer of connective-tissue cells( odontoblasts) whose processes( dentinal fibres, Tomes’s fibres) project into the dentinal canals. Hutchinson’s teeth, see Hutchinson’s teeth.

• [ Latin] Any tooth-like structure; as Auditory teeth, the projections on the free border of the labium vestibulare.

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