The interdental plate refers to the

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

-filled mesial-distal region between the

teeth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, t ...

. The word "''interdental''" is a combination of "''inter''" + "''dental''" (meaning "''between the teeth''") which originated in approximately 1870. In

paleobiology Paleobiology (or palaeobiology) is an interdisciplinary field that combines the methods and findings found in both the earth sciences and the life sciences. Paleobiology is not to be confused with geobiology, which focuses more on the interactio ...

, the presence or absence of the interdental plate can determine the place of an animal in the evolutionary scale, and paleontologists use the interdental plate when trying to classify a new specimen.

Thecodont Thecodontia (meaning 'socket-teeth'), now considered an obsolete taxonomic grouping, was formerly used to describe a diverse "order" of early archosaurian reptiles that first appeared in the latest Permian period and flourished until the end of t ...

reptiles and

theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...

dinosaur fossils have an interdental plate, whereas

acrodont Acrodonty (from Greek ''akros'' 'highest' + ''dont'' 'tooth') is an anatomical placement of the teeth at the summit of the alveolar ridge of the jaw, without sockets, characteristic of bony fish. Functionally, acrodont tooth implantation may be rela ...

reptiles such as Sphenodontia do not. Its presence in '' Archaeopteryx'', an extinct

avian Avian may refer to: *Birds or Aves, winged animals *Avian (given name) (russian: Авиа́н, link=no), a male forename Aviation *Avro Avian, a series of light aircraft made by Avro in the 1920s and 1930s *Avian Limited, a hang glider manufacture ...

, resulted in the proposal of the dinosaur-bird connection. The term can also be used to refer to a manufactured object designed to be placed or worn between the teeth. An example would be a dental

prosthetic In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

designed to prevent contact between the teeth while the wearer is

sleep Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a de ...

ing. A 2004 patent relates to an apparatus designed to measure the pressure exerted by the

tongue The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for mastication and swallowing as part of the digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper surface (dorsum) is covered by taste ...

as a means of diagnosing ailments related to swallowing.{{Cite patent, country=US, number=6702765, title=Apparatus for measuring tongue/hard palate contact pressure, pubdate=2004-03-09, assign1=

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation is the independent nonprofit technology transfer organization serving the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Morgridge Institute for Research. It provides significant research support, granting tens o ...

, inventor1-last=Robbins, inventor1-first=Jo Anne, inventor2-last=Bomsztyk, inventor2-first=Elan D., inventor3-last=Heppner, inventor3-first=Angela L., inventor4=Christine L. Koranda;Aaron R. Kroner;Jon M. Kuchenreuther;David M. Meister;Bryan S. Staerkel

References

Vertebrate anatomy Dental anatomy Dinosaur anatomy Human anatomy

See also

References