AI Assisted Treatment Planning for Precise Outcomes

The doctor–patient relationship has sometimes been characterized as silencing the voice of patients.^[6] It is now widely agreed that putting patients at the centre of healthcare^[7] by trying to provide a consistent, informative and respectful service to patients will improve both outcomes and patient satisfaction.^[8]

When patients are not at the centre of healthcare, when institutional procedures and targets eclipse local concerns, then patient neglect is possible.^[9] Incidents, such as the Stafford Hospital scandal, Winterbourne View hospital abuse scandal and the Veterans Health Administration controversy of 2014 have shown the dangers of prioritizing cost control over the patient experience.^[10] Investigations into these and other scandals have recommended that healthcare systems put patient experience at the center, and especially that patients themselves are heard loud and clear within health services.^[11]

There are many reasons for why health services should listen more to patients. Patients spend more time in healthcare services than regulators or quality controllers, and can recognize problems such as service delays, poor hygiene, and poor conduct.^[12] Patients are particularly good at identifying soft problems, such as attitudes, communication, and 'caring neglect',^[9] that are difficult to capture with institutional monitoring.^[13]

One important way in which patients can be placed at the centre of healthcare is for health services to be more open about patient complaints.^[14] Each year many hundreds of thousands of patients complain about the care they have received, and these complaints contain valuable information for any health services which want to learn about and improve patient experience.^[15]

• Jadad AR, Rizo CA, Enkin MW (June 2003). "I am a good patient, believe it or not". BMJ. 326 (7402): 1293–5. doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7402.1293. PMC 1126181. PMID 12805157.
  a peer-reviewed article published in the British Medical Journal's (BMJ) first issue dedicated to patients in its 160-year history
• Sokol DK (21 February 2004). "How (not) to be a good patient". BMJ. 328 (7437): 471. doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7437.471. PMC 344286.
  review article with views on the meaning of the words "good doctor" vs. "good patient"
• "Time Magazine's Dr. Scott Haig Proves that Patients Need to Be Googlers!" – Mary Shomons response to the Time Magazine article "When the Patient is a Googler"

 

In arthropods, the jaws are chitinous and oppose laterally, and may consist of mandibles or chelicerae. These jaws are often composed of numerous mouthparts. Their function is fundamentally for food acquisition, conveyance to the mouth, and/or initial processing (mastication or chewing). Many mouthparts and associate structures (such as pedipalps) are modified legs.

In most vertebrates, the jaws are bony or cartilaginous and oppose vertically, comprising an upper jaw and a lower jaw. The vertebrate jaw is derived from the most anterior two pharyngeal arches supporting the gills, and usually bears numerous teeth.

The vertebrate jaw probably originally evolved in the Silurian period and appeared in the Placoderm fish which further diversified in the Devonian. The two most anterior pharyngeal arches are thought to have become the jaw itself and the hyoid arch, respectively. The hyoid system suspends the jaw from the braincase of the skull, permitting great mobility of the jaws. While there is no fossil evidence directly to support this theory, it makes sense in light of the numbers of pharyngeal arches that are visible in extant jawed vertebrates (the Gnathostomes), which have seven arches, and primitive jawless vertebrates (the Agnatha), which have nine.

The original selective advantage offered by the jaw may not be related to feeding, but rather to increased respiration efficiency.^[1] The jaws were used in the buccal pump (observable in modern fish and amphibians) that pumps water across the gills of fish or air into the lungs in the case of amphibians. Over evolutionary time the more familiar use of jaws (to humans), in feeding, was selected for and became a very important function in vertebrates. Many teleost fish have substantially modified jaws for suction feeding and jaw protrusion, resulting in highly complex jaws with dozens of bones involved.^[2]

The jaw in tetrapods is substantially simplified compared to fish. Most of the upper jaw bones (premaxilla, maxilla, jugal, quadratojugal, and quadrate) have been fused to the braincase, while the lower jaw bones (dentary, splenial, angular, surangular, and articular) have been fused together into a unit called the mandible. The jaw articulates via a hinge joint between the quadrate and articular. The jaws of tetrapods exhibit varying degrees of mobility between jaw bones. Some species have jaw bones completely fused, while others may have joints allowing for mobility of the dentary, quadrate, or maxilla. The snake skull shows the greatest degree of cranial kinesis, which allows the snake to swallow large prey items.

In mammals, the jaws are made up of the mandible (lower jaw) and the maxilla (upper jaw). In the ape, there is a reinforcement to the lower jaw bone called the simian shelf. In the evolution of the mammalian jaw, two of the bones of the jaw structure (the articular bone of the lower jaw, and quadrate) were reduced in size and incorporated into the ear, while many others have been fused together.^[3] As a result, mammals show little or no cranial kinesis, and the mandible is attached to the temporal bone by the temporomandibular joints. Temporomandibular joint dysfunction is a common disorder of these joints, characterized by pain, clicking and limitation of mandibular movement.^[4] Especially in the therian mammal, the premaxilla that constituted the anterior tip of the upper jaw in reptiles has reduced in size; and most of the mesenchyme at the ancestral upper jaw tip has become a protruded mammalian nose.^[5]

Sea urchins possess unique jaws which display five-part symmetry, termed the Aristotle's lantern. Each unit of the jaw holds a single, perpetually growing tooth composed of crystalline calcium carbonate.

• Muscles of mastication
• Otofacial syndrome
• Predentary
• Prognathism
• Rostral bone

• Media related to Jaw bones at Wikimedia Commons

• Jaw at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

 

Teeth are among the most distinctive (and long-lasting) features of mammal species. Paleontologists use teeth to identify fossil species and determine their relationships. The shape of the animal's teeth are related to its diet. For example, plant matter is hard to digest, so herbivores have many molars for chewing and grinding. Carnivores, on the other hand, have canine teeth to kill prey and to tear meat.

Mammals, in general, are diphyodont, meaning that they develop two sets of teeth. In humans, the first set (the "baby", "milk", "primary" or "deciduous" set) normally starts to appear at about six months of age, although some babies are born with one or more visible teeth, known as neonatal teeth. Normal tooth eruption at about six months is known as teething and can be painful. Kangaroos, elephants, and manatees are unusual among mammals because they are polyphyodonts.

In aardvarks, teeth lack enamel and have many pulp tubules, hence the name of the order Tubulidentata.^[11]

In dogs, the teeth are less likely than humans to form dental cavities because of the very high pH of dog saliva, which prevents enamel from demineralizing.^[12] Sometimes called cuspids, these teeth are shaped like points (cusps) and are used for tearing and grasping food.^[13]

Like human teeth, whale teeth have polyp-like protrusions located on the root surface of the tooth. These polyps are made of cementum in both species, but in human teeth, the protrusions are located on the outside of the root, while in whales the nodule is located on the inside of the pulp chamber. While the roots of human teeth are made of cementum on the outer surface, whales have cementum on the entire surface of the tooth with a very small layer of enamel at the tip. This small enamel layer is only seen in older whales where the cementum has been worn away to show the underlying enamel.^[14]

The toothed whale is a parvorder of the cetaceans characterized by having teeth. The teeth differ considerably among the species. They may be numerous, with some dolphins bearing over 100 teeth in their jaws. On the other hand, the narwhals have a giant unicorn-like tusk, which is a tooth containing millions of sensory pathways and used for sensing during feeding, navigation, and mating. It is the most neurologically complex tooth known. Beaked whales are almost toothless, with only bizarre teeth found in males. These teeth may be used for feeding but also for demonstrating aggression and showmanship.

In humans (and most other primates), there are usually 20 primary (also "baby" or "milk") teeth, and later up to 32 permanent teeth. Four of these 32 may be third molars or wisdom teeth, although these are not present in all adults, and may be removed surgically later in life.^[15]

Among primary teeth, 10 of them are usually found in the maxilla (i.e. upper jaw) and the other 10 in the mandible (i.e. lower jaw). Among permanent teeth, 16 are found in the maxilla and the other 16 in the mandible. Most of the teeth have uniquely distinguishing features.

An adult horse has between 36 and 44 teeth. The enamel and dentin layers of horse teeth are intertwined.^[16] All horses have 12 premolars, 12 molars, and 12 incisors.^[17] Generally, all male equines also have four canine teeth (called tushes) between the molars and incisors. However, few female horses (less than 28%) have canines, and those that do usually have only one or two, which many times are only partially erupted.^[18] A few horses have one to four wolf teeth, which are vestigial premolars, with most of those having only one or two. They are equally common in male and female horses and much more likely to be on the upper jaw. If present these can cause problems as they can interfere with the horse's bit contact. Therefore, wolf teeth are commonly removed.^[17]

Horse teeth can be used to estimate the animal's age. Between birth and five years, age can be closely estimated by observing the eruption pattern on milk teeth and then permanent teeth. By age five, all permanent teeth have usually erupted. The horse is then said to have a "full" mouth. After the age of five, age can only be conjectured by studying the wear patterns on the incisors, shape, the angle at which the incisors meet, and other factors. The wear of teeth may also be affected by diet, natural abnormalities, and cribbing. Two horses of the same age may have different wear patterns.

A horse's incisors, premolars, and molars, once fully developed, continue to erupt as the grinding surface is worn down through chewing. A young adult horse will have teeth, which are 110–130 mm (4.5–5 inches) long, with the majority of the crown remaining below the gumline in the dental socket. The rest of the tooth will slowly emerge from the jaw, erupting about 3 mm (1⁄8 in) each year, as the horse ages. When the animal reaches old age, the crowns of the teeth are very short and the teeth are often lost altogether. Very old horses, if lacking molars, may need to have their fodder ground up and soaked in water to create a soft mush for them to eat in order to obtain adequate nutrition.

Elephants' tusks are specialized incisors for digging food up and fighting. Some elephant teeth are similar to those in manatees, and elephants are believed to have undergone an aquatic phase in their evolution.

At birth, elephants have a total of 28 molar plate-like grinding teeth not including the tusks. These are organized into four sets of seven successively larger teeth which the elephant will slowly wear through during its lifetime of chewing rough plant material. Only four teeth are used for chewing at a given time, and as each tooth wears out, another tooth moves forward to take its place in a process similar to a conveyor belt. The last and largest of these teeth usually becomes exposed when the animal is around 40 years of age, and will often last for an additional 20 years. When the last of these teeth has fallen out, regardless of the elephant's age, the animal will no longer be able to chew food and will die of starvation.^[19][20]

Rabbits and other lagomorphs usually shed their deciduous teeth before (or very shortly after) their birth, and are usually born with their permanent teeth.^[21] The teeth of rabbits complement their diet, which consists of a wide range of vegetation. Since many of the foods are abrasive enough to cause attrition, rabbit teeth grow continuously throughout life.^[22] Rabbits have a total of six incisors, three upper premolars, three upper molars, two lower premolars, and two lower molars on each side. There are no canines. Dental formula is 2.0.3.31.0.2.3 = 28. Three to four millimeters of the tooth is worn away by incisors every week, whereas the cheek teeth require a month to wear away the same amount.^[23]

The incisors and cheek teeth of rabbits are called aradicular hypsodont teeth. This is sometimes referred to as an elodent dentition. These teeth grow or erupt continuously. The growth or eruption is held in balance by dental abrasion from chewing a diet high in fiber.

Rodents have upper and lower hypselodont incisors that can continuously grow enamel throughout its life without having properly formed roots.^[24] These teeth are also known as aradicular teeth, and unlike humans whose ameloblasts die after tooth development, rodents continually produce enamel, they must wear down their teeth by gnawing on various materials.^[25] Enamel and dentin are produced by the enamel organ, and growth is dependent on the presence of stem cells, cellular amplification, and cellular maturation structures in the odontogenic region.^[26] Rodent incisors are used for cutting wood, biting through the skin of fruit, or for defense. This allows for the rate of wear and tooth growth to be at equilibrium.^[24] The microstructure of rodent incisor enamel has shown to be useful in studying the phylogeny and systematics of rodents because of its independent evolution from the other dental traits. The enamel on rodent incisors are composed of two layers: the inner portio interna (PI) with Hunter-Schreger bands (HSB) and an outer portio externa (PE) with radial enamel (RE).^[27] It usually involves the differential regulation of the epithelial stem cell niche in the tooth of two rodent species, such as guinea pigs.^[28][29]

The teeth have enamel on the outside and exposed dentin on the inside, so they self-sharpen during gnawing. On the other hand, continually growing molars are found in some rodent species, such as the sibling vole and the guinea pig.^[28][29] There is variation in the dentition of the rodents, but generally, rodents lack canines and premolars, and have a space between their incisors and molars, called the diastema region.

Manatees are polyphyodont with mandibular molars developing separately from the jaw and are encased in a bony shell separated by soft tissue.^[30][31]

Walrus tusks are canine teeth that grow continuously throughout life.^[32]

Fish, such as sharks, may go through many teeth in their lifetime. The replacement of multiple teeth is known as polyphyodontia.

A class of prehistoric shark are called cladodonts for their strange forked teeth.

Unlike the continuous shedding of functional teeth seen in modern sharks,^[33][34] the majority of stem chondrichthyan lineages retained all tooth generations developed throughout the life of the animal.^[35] This replacement mechanism is exemplified by the tooth whorl-based dentitions of acanthodians,^[36] which include the oldest known toothed vertebrate, Qianodus duplicis^[37].

All amphibians have pedicellate teeth, which are modified to be flexible due to connective tissue and uncalcified dentine that separates the crown from the base of the tooth.^[38]

Most amphibians exhibit teeth that have a slight attachment to the jaw or acrodont teeth. Acrodont teeth exhibit limited connection to the dentary and have little enervation.^[39] This is ideal for organisms who mostly use their teeth for grasping, but not for crushing and allows for rapid regeneration of teeth at a low energy cost. Teeth are usually lost in the course of feeding if the prey is struggling. Additionally, amphibians that undergo a metamorphosis develop bicuspid shaped teeth.^[40]

The teeth of reptiles are replaced constantly throughout their lives. Crocodilian juveniles replace teeth with larger ones at a rate as high as one new tooth per socket every month. Once mature, tooth replacement rates can slow to two years and even longer. Overall, crocodilians may use 3,000 teeth from birth to death. New teeth are created within old teeth.^[41]

A skull of Ichthyornis discovered in 2014 suggests that the beak of birds may have evolved from teeth to allow chicks to escape their shells earlier, and thus avoid predators and also to penetrate protective covers such as hard earth to access underlying food.^[42][43]

True teeth are unique to vertebrates,^[44] although many invertebrates have analogous structures often referred to as teeth. The organisms with the simplest genome bearing such tooth-like structures are perhaps the parasitic worms of the family Ancylostomatidae.^[45] For example, the hookworm Necator americanus has two dorsal and two ventral cutting plates or teeth around the anterior margin of the buccal capsule. It also has a pair of subdorsal and a pair of subventral teeth located close to the rear.^[46]

Historically, the European medicinal leech, another invertebrate parasite, has been used in medicine to remove blood from patients.^[47] They have three jaws (tripartite) that resemble saws in both appearance and function, and on them are about 100 sharp teeth used to incise the host. The incision leaves a mark that is an inverted Y inside of a circle. After piercing the skin and injecting anticoagulants (hirudin) and anaesthetics, they suck out blood, consuming up to ten times their body weight in a single meal.^[48]

In some species of Bryozoa, the first part of the stomach forms a muscular gizzard lined with chitinous teeth that crush armoured prey such as diatoms. Wave-like peristaltic contractions then move the food through the stomach for digestion.^[49]

Molluscs have a structure called a radula, which bears a ribbon of chitinous teeth. However, these teeth are histologically and developmentally different from vertebrate teeth and are unlikely to be homologous. For example, vertebrate teeth develop from a neural crest mesenchyme-derived dental papilla, and the neural crest is specific to vertebrates, as are tissues such as enamel.^[44]

The radula is used by molluscs for feeding and is sometimes compared rather inaccurately to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters the oesophagus. The radula is unique to molluscs, and is found in every class of mollusc apart from bivalves.

Within the gastropods, the radula is used in feeding by both herbivorous and carnivorous snails and slugs. The arrangement of teeth (also known as denticles) on the radula ribbon varies considerably from one group to another as shown in the diagram on the left.

Predatory marine snails such as the Naticidae use the radula plus an acidic secretion to bore through the shell of other molluscs. Other predatory marine snails, such as the Conidae, use a specialized radula tooth as a poisoned harpoon. Predatory pulmonate land slugs, such as the ghost slug, use elongated razor-sharp teeth on the radula to seize and devour earthworms. Predatory cephalopods, such as squid, use the radula for cutting prey.

In most of the more ancient lineages of gastropods, the radula is used to graze by scraping diatoms and other microscopic algae off rock surfaces and other substrates. Limpets scrape algae from rocks using radula equipped with exceptionally hard rasping teeth.^[50] These teeth have the strongest known tensile strength of any biological material, outperforming spider silk.^[50] The mineral protein of the limpet teeth can withstand a tensile stress of 4.9 GPa, compared to 4 GPa of spider silk and 0.5 GPa of human teeth.^[51]

Because teeth are very resistant, often preserved when bones are not,^[52] and reflect the diet of the host organism, they are very valuable to archaeologists and palaeontologists.^[53] Early fish such as the thelodonts had scales composed of dentine and an enamel-like compound, suggesting that the origin of teeth was from scales which were retained in the mouth. Fish as early as the late Cambrian had dentine in their exoskeletons, which may have functioned in defense or for sensing their environments.^[54] Dentine can be as hard as the rest of teeth and is composed of collagen fibres, reinforced with hydroxyapatite.^[54]

Though teeth are very resistant, they also can be brittle and highly susceptible to cracking.^[55] However, cracking of the tooth can be used as a diagnostic tool for predicting bite force. Additionally, enamel fractures can also give valuable insight into the diet and behaviour of archaeological and fossil samples.

Decalcification removes the enamel from teeth and leaves only the organic interior intact, which comprises dentine and cementine.^[56] Enamel is quickly decalcified in acids,^[57] perhaps by dissolution by plant acids or via diagenetic solutions, or in the stomachs of vertebrate predators.^[56] Enamel can be lost by abrasion or spalling,^[56] and is lost before dentine or bone are destroyed by the fossilisation process.^[57] In such a case, the 'skeleton' of the teeth would consist of the dentine, with a hollow pulp cavity.^[56] The organic part of dentine, conversely, is destroyed by alkalis.^[57]

• Animal tooth development
• Dragon's teeth (mythology)

• Shoshani, Jeheskel (2002). "Tubulidentata". In Robertson, Sarah (ed.). Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. Vol. 18: Svedberg, Theodor to Two-hybrid and Related Systems. London, UK: Nature Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-56159-274-6.

• Beach, Chandler B., ed. (1914). "Teeth" . The New Student's Reference Work . Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co.