Description

Odontogenesis is a highly co-ordinated and complex process which relies upon cell-to-cell interactions and generation of the tooth. Odontogenesis is providing insight into the developmental control mechanisms that operate at a molecular level during embryogenesis. At the forefront of research into the genetics of tooth development our knowledge of these tissue interactions is extended. This literature provides a realm of valuable genetically programmed information on the processes involved during human odontogenesis and craniofacial development. Conceptually not far from the essentialism of past centuries (or millennia), it is assumed that the genetic sequence is a representation of a plan that in some senses contains, or at least contained, these phantom structures. This compendium will undoubtedly lead to advances in the understanding of the genetic influence over odontogenesis and the mechanisms that are involved in producing anomalies in the development of the craniofacial complex.