MORPHOLOGICAL VARIANTS

Most sharks are fish eaters and have numerous rows of teeth that are either flat, sharp, notched
triangles that are used for cutting, or they are single or multipointed tusks that curve toward the
pharynx and hold a struggling prey until it can be swallowed whole. Each tooth has a broad basal plate
of dentin embedded in the dermis. A minority eat shellfish and, although the teeth at the entrance have
curved caudally directed spines, the rest from batteries of rounded denticles used for crushing shells
(Fig. 11-13). Tiny stomodeal denticles line the pharynx in some sharks, and near the jaws these have
transitional shapes between denticles and teeth

The dental armor of holocephalans and modern lungfishes is reminiscent of that of earlier jawed fishes,
consisting of a few large plates of enamel-covered dentin that bear clusters of sharp or flattened ridges
or spines, chimaera, a holocephalan that eats molluscs, has on each side of the upper jaw one large
anterior and one small posterior denticulated tooth plate that together cover the entire upper jaw on
each side, there is a single large plate on each side below. In modern lungfishes the plates are restricted
to the palate and medial aspects of the lower jaw.

The teeth of actinopterygians, amphibians, and most reptiles are simple pointed cones attached to one
or more membrane bones. Small teeth may be interspersed aong large ones, and those in front are
sometimes larger and curved slightly to the rear, specialized shapes sometimes occur on one jaw or the
or the other, garsm for instance have a few fanglike teeth shaped at their ends like arrows; and the
fangs of venomous snakes, borne on the maxillae, are curved or bladelike, grooved on the rear surface,
or tubular, for injecting venom. When all teeth are alike the dentition is described as homodont.

In mammals the teeth of each individual are different shapes –incisors, canines, premolars, molars-and
this is a heterodont dentition. Heterodonty was first evident in synapsid reptiles, which had a pair of
prominent caninelike teeth (Fig. 3-18)

Incisors, located anteriorly, are used chiefly for cropping or gnawing . the incisors of rodents and
lagomorphs continue to grow throughout most of life, and in rodents enamel is deposited on the
anterior surface only. Since enamel wears down more slowly than dentin, sharp chise-like enamel edges
result incisors may be totally absent, as in sloths, or lacking on the upper jaw, as in ruminants (Fig. 11-
14, ox). Elephant tusk are modified incisors (Fig. 11-14, mastodon).

Canines lie immediately behind the incisors (Fig. 11-1, dog). In generalized mammals, incisors and
canines scarcely differ in appearance (Fig. 11-14, shrew). In canivores the canines are spearlike and used
for flesh (Fig. 11-15, B). They are also the tsuk of the morphs and so there is a toothless interval, or
diastema, between the attained their gretest length on the upper jaw of the now extinct saber-toothed
cats, in which they extended as much as 20 cm below the lower jaw with the mouth closed.

Check teeth, or premolars and molars, are used for macerating food (Fig. 11-15, A). molars are cheek
teeth that are not replaced by a second set. They are, in reality, late arrivarls of the first set. In
herbivorous mammals (Fig. 11-14, ox), cheek teeth tend to be numerous, and there is little
morphological differentiaton between premolars and molars. In grinding vegetation, herbivores drag the
lower cheek teeth across the upper ones in either back-to-front or side-to-side movements. As a result,
the cusps, which in young animals are conical elevations, wear down to broad, flat, ridged, grinding
surfaces. In carnivores grinding is deemphasized, the number of cheek teeth is redced, and cusps, which
are useful for macerating flesh, remain prominent. At least one pair of cheek teeth on each jaw of
cernivores has very sharp cusps for cracking bones and shearing tendons (Fig. 11-14, dog, carnassial
tooth0. For additional discussion of adaptations for mastication see “temporal fossae and a new jaw
joint” in chapter 8.

Generalized placental mammals have three incisors, one canine, four premolars, and three molars on
each side of each jaw, a total of 44 teeth. This may be expressed by the formula 3-1-1-3/3-1-1-3. The
same formula applies to modern horses, although the first premolar may be missing. Dental formulae
for other adult mammals are as follows:

Cat 3-1-3-1/3-1-2-1 man 2-1-2-3/2-1-2-3 rabbit 2-0-3-3/1-0-2-3

Formulae for shrews, oxen, and dogs can be derived from fig. 11-14. Teeth, along with the tongue and
hyoidm constitue a functional triad the entrance to the digestive tract, the starts a bolus of food on its
way to digestive sites.

HORNY EPIDERMAL TEETH

The dental armor of holocephalans and modern lungfishes is reminiscent of that of earlier jawed fishes,
consisting of a few large plates of enamel-covered dentin that bear rows of various sized rounded
moundlike denticles that usually become sharp spines at the entrance to the oropharyngeal cavity.
chimaera, a holocephalan that eats molluscs, has on each side of the upper jaw one large anterior and
one small posterior denticulated tooth plate that together cover the entire upper jaw on each side,
there is a single large plate on each side below. In modern lungfishes the plates are restricted to the
palate and medial aspects of the lower jaw.