Week 4 Development, Form, & Eruption

Question 1

TOOTH DEVELOPMENT
Tooth Germ

Answer 1

• TOOTH GERM: soft tissue that develops into a tooth (also called
tooth buds)
- during 6th week of fetal life tooth buds begin to grow within the alveolar process of fetus
- are small clumps of cells that have the ability to form the tooth tissues (dentin, enamel, cementum and pulp)
- both primary and secondary teeth develop from these tooth germs which later are located within cavities of the alveolar process called crypts
- CRYPT: early tooth socket
•At this time dental lamina begins to form (band of epithelial tissue that covers the embryonic jaws and grows down into the developing gums and gives rise to the enamel organs of the teeth)