title: A morphometric study of bone and tooth volumes in the pipid frog Xenopus laevis (Daudin), with comments on the importance of tooth resorption during normal tooth replacement.
abstract: Volumetric estimations of teeth and bone on serial sections using a semiautomatic image analyzer indicate that, in the polyphyodont dentition of the pipid anuran Xenopus laevis (Daudin), the mean volume of the dentine composing the teeth is about 23.5% of the volume of the supporting maxillae and premaxillae. During tooth replacement, osteoclasts resorb up to 98% of the dentine. Teeth may be resorbed rather than shed in order to conserve tooth constituents because, if shedding of complete teeth did occur, a quantity of calcified tissue equal to perhaps 45 times the volume of the bone of the upper jaw might be lost over an animal's projected life span of about 13-15 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University Medical School, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003804:Dentin / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D008437:Maxilla / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014091:Tooth Resorption / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology