DT News - MEA - Whose gnashers? The form and function of mammalian teeth

King's College London

Wed. 16 January 2019

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Teeth are key to the survival of mammals, and knowledge of tooth form and function is essential in mammalian biology.

Dr Barry Berkovitz, King’s College London, and Dr Peter Shellis, University of Bern, have published a new book ‘The Teeth of Mammalian Vertebrates’ exploring the teeth of all mammals based on material gathered from global museums and researchers, and drawing on the authors’ knowledge acquired over 40 years of teaching and research experience in dental anatomy.

There has recently been a resurgence of interest in several aspects of comparative dental anatomy such as function, the development of individual teeth and their arrangement.

Classically, teeth clearly exemplify the relationship between form and function, and mammalian dentitions provide an array of examples. The book contains over 700 high-quality photographs, x-rays, CT scans and histological images, including from the Royal College of Surgeons archives, and explains how the structure and properties of dental tissues support tooth function.

To celebrate the publication of ‘The Teeth of Mammalian Vertebrates’, King’s College London has created a photo quiz. Take the quiz at https://bit.ly/2Ft60ynand see how many you can identify.

‘The Teeth of Mammalian Vertebrates’, was co-authored by Dr Barry Berkovitz, Emeritus Reader in Dental Anatomy, King’s College London, and Dr Peter Shellis, Department of Preventive, Restorative and Paediatric Dentistry, University of Bern, and can be purchased from Elsevier.

kcl.ac.uk/news/spotlight

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