Aberrantly elevated Wnt signaling is responsible for cementum overgrowth and dental ankylosis

Vertebrate teeth are attached to the jawbones using a variety of methods but in mammals, a fibrous connection is the norm. This fibrous periodontal ligament (PDL) allows teeth to move in the jawbones in response to natural eruptive forces, mastication, and orthodontic tooth movement. In some disease states the PDL either calcifies or is replaced by a mineralized tissue and the result is ankylosis, where the tooth is fused to the alveolar bone. To understand how the PDL maintains this fibrous state we examined a strain of mice in which tooth movement is arrested.
Source: Bone - Category: Orthopaedics Authors: Tags: Full Length Article Source Type: research
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