STRUCTURE AND ORIGIN OF THE TOOTH PEDICEL (THE SO-CALLED BONE OF ATTACHMENT) AND DENTAL-RIDGE BONE IN THE MANDIBLES OF THE SEA BREAMS ACANTHOPAGRUS-AUSTRALIS, PAGRUS-AURATUS AND RHABDOSARGUS-SARBA (SPARIDAE, PERCIFORMES, TELEOSTEI)
Dr. Hughes et al., STRUCTURE AND ORIGIN OF THE TOOTH PEDICEL (THE SO-CALLED BONE OF ATTACHMENT) AND DENTAL-RIDGE BONE IN THE MANDIBLES OF THE SEA BREAMS ACANTHOPAGRUS-AUSTRALIS, PAGRUS-AURATUS AND RHABDOSARGUS-SARBA (SPARIDAE, PERCIFORMES, TELEOSTEI), Anatomy and embryology, 189(1), 1994, pp. 51-69
Scanning electron and light microscopy were used to show that the pedi
cels of fish teeth (the so-called ''bones of attachment'') consist of
three types of dentine that lie concentrically around a pulp cavity li
ned with typical odontoblasts with cytoplasmic processes in dentinal t
ubules. Circumpulpal canalar dentine forms on a thin layer of orthoden
tine that is encased in mantle dentine. Canalar dentine is a new name
given to a dentine that is similar to vasodentine in canal arrangement
, but not apparently in canal content. An inner series of wide, radial
canals and an outer series of highly-branched thin canals of two diam
eters are inhabited by a population of cells, the osteodentocytes, and
collagen fibril bundles. The flat, oval osteodentocytes appear to be
quiescent cells, lying on the sides of the tubules and covered by a sh
eath. Plump, intensely metachromatic osteodentocytes appear to be more
synthetically active. The canals and the osteodentocytes originate fr
om blood capillaries enclosed in the predentine during dentinogenesis.
New teeth begin within the small cavities present in spongy bone that
were enlarged by multinucleated osteoclasts during tooth growth. Pedi
cel formation is initiated by the extension of the crown mantle dentin
e, forming the outer layer of the crimped ligament and outlining the f
uture length and curvature of the pedicel. Central and inner ligament
zones are subsequently formed as orthodentine is secreted in both crow
n and pedicel, and canalar dentine in the pedicel. Spongy bone osteoge
nesis begins during stage 1 of pedicel formation with the aggregation
of osteoblasts and blood capillaries in the bone cavities and in the d
ermis between the pedicels. Loose fibrillar osteoid condenses into inc
omplete thin trabeculae bordered by intensely metachromatic osteoblast
s. Osteoblasts become enclosed in the developing trabeculae that thick
en to give mature spongy bone with osteocytes throughout. We conclude
that the pedicels are the true bases of teeth, that the dental ridge i
s formed from pedicels and spongy bone, and that sea bream spongy bone
is cellular. The term ''bone of attachment'' is inappropriate for the
pedicel. It can be used for the spongy bone between the compact bone
of the jaw and between adjacent pedicel.