Dentine

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The hard, bone-like substance located under the enamel layer forms a substantial part of teeth and is essential for their overall resilience and function
2. This supportive material situated beneath the enamel in teeth is vital for their strength, connecting the protective outer layer to the dental pulp
3. A dense, calcified tissue beneath the enamel that makes up most of the tooth structure and provides protection to the inner pulp

Etymology: Dentine is the tissue beneath a tooth's enamel, and its name is built from a Latin word for tooth plus a chemist's suffix. The Latin root is "dens", "tooth", which also gave English "dental" and "dentist". The ending "-in" (spelled "-ine" in the older form used here) is an English chemical suffix, used to name substances, so the word is essentially a labelled description of a material rather than an old folk term. The word reached English by way of French, where "dentine" was the form used for this tissue. The spelling "dentine" survives alongside the now more common "dentin", and both refer to the same hard layer that makes up most of a tooth's bulk.

Synonyms: dentin