dentin

dentin, in anatomy, the yellowish tissue that makes up the bulk of all teeth. It is harder than bone but softer than enamel and consists mainly of apatite crystals of calcium and phosphate. In humans, other mammals, and the elasmobranch fishes (e.g., sharks, rays), a layer of dentin-producing cells, odontoblasts, line the pulp cavity of the tooth (or, in the case of sharks, the toothlike scale) and send projections into the calcified material of the dentin; these projections are enclosed in tubules. Sensitivity to pain, pressure, and temperature is transmitted via the odontoblastic extensions in the tubules to and from the nerve in the pulp chamber. Secondary dentin, a less well-organized form of tubular dentin, is produced throughout life as a patching material where cavities have begun, where the overlying enamel has been worn away, and within the pulp chamber as part of the aging process.

In nonmammalian vertebrates, enamel is lacking; the tooth crown is covered instead with vitrodentin, a compound related to dentin, which is harder than dentin but somewhat softer than enamel.

A few animals, such as flounder and cod, have vasodentin, in which tubules are lacking, and the dentin is nourished directly by capillaries. Though more efficient nutritionally, this type of dentin is softer and less resistant to disease than tubular dentin. The material composing the toothlike scales of sharks and related fish is also called dentin. Compare cementum; enamel.