8. Tooth size and general description of teeth - basic anatomic structures.
Covers tooth size, with a table of record-holding teeth, and the difference between anatomic and clinical crown and root, including how gingival level changes what shows. Explains the height of contour and its link to denture clasps, then sets out convexities such as cusps, ridges and the cingulum, and concavities such as grooves, fossae and pits, in two summary tables. Notes that fissures and pits are where caries most often starts.
Topic 8 of 75 in the MU Sofia syllabus for Preclinics of Dental Prosthetics (Dental Medicine, Year 2). The free AceMed note covers it in 5 sections, about 280 words (4 min of reading), with 13 flashcards.
In this note
Introduction
Tooth size
Crown and root: anatomic or clinical?
Height of contour
Bumps and hollows
Introduction
Every tooth has its own shape, but all share the same basic parts and the same small set of bumps and hollows. Learning that vocabulary once makes every tooth easier to describe, carve and restore.
Tooth size
Average sizes come from measuring large numbers of extracted teeth. Tables give overall length, crown and root length, crown width mesiodistally and faciolingually, and width at the cervix. Students draw and carve teeth at three times these sizes (3:1).
Crown and root: anatomic or clinical?
The cervical line, or cement-enamel junction (CEJ), separates the enamel-covered anatomic crown from the cementum-covered anatomic root. That never changes. What shows in the mouth depends on the gingiva.
Clinical crown: the part you can see above the gingiva.
Clinical root: the part hidden below the gingival margin.
In a healthy adult the gingival margin follows the cervical line and hugs the neck of the tooth. Soon after eruption part of the enamel is still covered, so the clinical crown is shorter; after recession part of the root is exposed, so the clinical crown is longer.
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