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Innervation and formation of new dental tissue in a mandibular cheek tooth

Each mandibular tooth contains two vertically aligned laminae. For most of the length of each lamina, the dentine encloses a pulp chamber that tapers towards the occlusal end of the tooth. At the apical end the two pulp chambers converge. Dental tissue starts to be formed at the apex of the tooth and becomes thicker as it moves towards the occlusal end. Ameloblasts produce enamel. The odontogenic organ forms pre-odontoblasts that mature into odontoblasts that form tubular dentine. The tubules contain nerve fibres but near the occlusal end of the tooth the odontoblasts appear to transform into postodontoblasts that deposit atubular tissue. The image is modified from drawing by Bishop (1995).