Developmental Disturbances of the Teeth, Anomalies of Structure

Excerpt

Dental development is a highly regulated biological process and results from several specific and highly regulated sequences of steps. Teeth are comprised of many different internal and external structures with a variety of developmental and embryologic origins. If any of these developmental processes are disturbed or over-exaggerated, changes can occur within the developed tooth’s structure. These changes can be as simple as a slight overexpression of a singular tooth structure to the complete obliteration of dental tissue in final development. The developmental anomalies to be discussed in this article are as follows: dens evaginatus, dens invaginatus, amelogenesis imperfecta, and dentinogenesis imperfecta.