Denticle (teeth)

Dromaeosaur tooth with small denticles along the cutting edge. Scale bars are 1 mm.
Ankylosaurus tooth with large denticles

Denticles or serrations are small bumps on a tooth that give the tooth a cutting edge.

In paleontology, denticle features are used to describe and classify fossilized teeth, especially those of dinosaurs.

Denticles are also present on the teeth of some lizards, sharks, and mammals.

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Joshua B.; Vann, David R.; Dodson, Peter (2005). "Dental morphology and variation in theropod dinosaurs: Implications for the taxonomic identification of isolated teeth". The Anatomical Record Part A: Discoveries in Molecular, Cellular, and Evolutionary Biology. 285A (2): 699–736. doi:10.1002/ar.a.20206. PMID 15986487.