Genes and tooth development: reviewing the structure and function of some key players.

Abstract

Similar to many other embryonic organs, the mammalian tooth development relies largely on epithelial-mesenchymal interactions. Tooth development may be divided in multiple stages, where the number, size and type of teeth are sequentially determined. Teeth are serially homologous structures, which allow the localization and quantification of the effects of specific gene mutations. Furthermore, it is also possible to determine the phase of odontogenesis affected by these conditions. These features make anomalies involving teeth an important system to understand the intricate molecular mechanisms that regulate developmental process. In this paper we review the structure and function of some key molecules that participate in tooth development.

Keywords

• Tooth morphogenesis. Genes. Molecular signaling