dentition
(dɛnˈtɪʃən)
[ad. L. dentitiōn-em teething, n. of action from dentīre to teeth. (So in mod.F. in Dict. Trev. 18th c.)]
1. The production or ‘cutting’ of the teeth; teething.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 969 Dentition or the breeding of the Teeth begins about the seauenth yeare, sometimes sooner. 1666 J. Smith Old Age (ed. 2) 140 Dentition and Locution are for the most part Contemporaries. 1801 Med. Jrnl. V. 567 Latest Theories of difficult Dentition. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 365 With many constitutions it is as purely natural a crisis as dentition. Mod. The second dentition is to some children as critical a period as the first. |
2. The arrangement of the teeth, with regard to kind, number, and order, proper to a particular animal, or to an animal at a particular age.
| 1849 Sk. Nat. Hist., Mammalia IV. 25 The dentition is as follow:—Incisors, 2/2; molars, 4 - 4 / 4 - 4 . 1855 Owen Teeth 285 The dentition of the genus Elephas includes two long tusks. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geog. vi. 273 Of all distinguishing characters, the dentition of an animal is one of the most important. |