Teeth were lost in birds 70-80 million years ago. Current thinking holds that it is the avian cranial neural crest-derived mesenchyme that has lost odontogenic capacity, whereas the oral epithelium retains the signaling properties required to induce odontogenesis. To investigate the odontogenic capacity of ectomesenchyme, we have used neural tube transplantations from mice to chick embryos to r...

The dental pulp is characterized as a connective tissue and as such it is not considered an external tissue, yet its exposure to external stimuli is constant. This is due to a number of factors including the permeability of attrited or disrupted enamel as well as that of physiologic dentin and cementum. The pulp is extraordinarily sensitive to its external environment. Once thought to be a vest...

Protocadherins are transmembrane glycoproteins belonging to the cadherin superfamily of molecules, which are involved in many biological processes such as cell adhesion, cytoskeletal organization and morphogenesis. Protocadherins generally exhibit only moderate adhesive activity and are highly expressed in the nervous system. Here, we report on the expression pattern of two novel families of pr...

Generation of morphological diversity remains a challenge for evolutionary biologists because it is unclear how an ultimately finite number of genes involved in initial pattern formation integrates with morphogenesis. Ideally, models used to search for the simplest developmental principles on how genes produce form should account for both developmental process and evolutionary change. Here we p...

Odontogenic tumors contain a heterogeneous collection of lesions that are categorized from hamartomas to benign and malignant neoplasms of inconstant aggressiveness. Odontogenic tumors are usually extraordinary with assessed frequency of short of 0.5 cases/100,000 population for every year. The lesions such as odontogenic tumors are inferred from the components of the tooth-structuring contrapt...

Fusion and gemination are not entirely uncommon dental anomalies that may also be named ‘double teeth’. This is due to their unusual presentation in a twin-like fashion. Teeth with these irregularities appear clinically similar, presenting as large bulbous shape anatomy fissure patterns. The exact aetiology of uncertain, but many potential local or systemic disturbances during the morphodiffere...

INTRODUCTION Periodontitis is a complex pathology characterized by the loss of alveolar bone. The causes and the mechanisms that promote this bone resorption still remain unknown. The knowledge of the critical regulators involved in the alteration of alveolar bone homeostasis is of great importance for developing molecular therapies. Procaine is an anesthetic drug with demethylant properties, m...