In this session, we will learn how teeth develop. We will start with the video "How Did Teeth Evolve" which traces somewhat our dentition's journey from fish to man.
I have posted the powerpoint lecture of "The Development of the Human Dentition." It is surprising that our teeth develop very early - even while we are still in our mothers' womb! You will learn the sequence of eruption and learn more terminologies such as resorption, exfoliation, eruption, etc.
To help you understand further the topic, please read the following resource materials.
Chapter 2 “Development and Eruption of the Teeth” of your textbook “Wheeler’s Dental Anatomy Physiology and Occlusion” 10th edition by Stanley J. Nelson pp. 21-41.
Eruption of Primary and Permanent Teeth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g39-1WIg58
Think
- Why is it important for dentists to learn the sequence of eruption of teeth, for both deciduous and permanent?
- What are the three periods of human dentition? Give a brief description of each.
- Explain the processes of resorption, exfoliation and eruption. At what period do these processes happen?
Dig Deeper
- Let’s test your knowledge of the sequence of eruption of teeth further by answering the questions pertaining to a couple of hypothetical cases below.
As a backgrounder to this activity, oftentimes when tragedies or calamities occur, some of the dead remain unidentified. Examples are the daycare/orphanage fire in Tondo in 1998 and several maritime disasters here in the Philippines. One way to identify the dead is through forensics and one important branch is Forensic Dentistry. Forensic dentists compare the dental records, when available, of the passengers with that of the body. Another way where forensic dentists can identify the dead is by estimating the age of the deceased by their knowledge of the sequence of tooth eruption. This was how majority of the children in the Tondo daycare/orphanage were identified in 1998.
Given the teeth present inside the oral cavity, predict the age of the person in these 2 hypothetical cases.
- All permanent 1st molars, all permanent central and some permanent lateral incisors, all deciduous cuspids, all deciduous 1st and 2nd molars.
- All permanent 1st molars, all permanent central and lateral incisors, both permanent mandibular cuspids, all permanent premolars, both maxillary cuspids.
Whew! We are done with Module 2. Oral Anatomy gets more and more interesting, don’t you agree?
Our next activity is more on lab work, “Tooth Measurement”.
And to cap off this topic, there is a five-item quiz to test your understanding on the topic.
