Everyone's guide to the dentition

There are soft and hard tissues of the oral cavity that may develop abnormally as isolated defects or as components of syndromes. It is important for the dentist and nondentist to describe abnormalities of the oral structures since diagnosis may depend on which structure is defective and in what way. In order to describe the abnormalities, however, proper terminology must be known, and the natural state of the structures must be known. This paper describes most of the clinically relevant oral structures in reasonable terminology and sets the stage for the specialized papers that follow.