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Chinchillas also have four cheek teeth ineach of the jaw quadrants. Those teeth are aradicular hypselodont,with each ofthem consisting of three transverse,stretched or slightly curved dentinlamellae that are closely adjacent to each other and connected by crown cement.This is termed trilophodonty (Hillson, 2005)(Figure 3.21). The first mandibularcheek tooth has a triangular shape whereas the rest of the molarsare rectangular. Clinical intraoral findings show the maxillary molars to besignificantly shorter than those in the mandible. In normal occlusion, they areflush with the mucosal border whereas the teeth in the mandible protrude approximately 2–3 mm (Figure 3.22). When lookingat prepared specimens of skulls or radiographs of healthy animals, however, thewhole structure (dentin lamellae) of the mandibular and maxillary cheek teethhave an identical length. The mandible is a little wider than the upper jaw(anisognathism) and the rows of teeth diverge toward the distal end, with the chewingsurface being horizontal and physiologically smooth. The cheek teeth areslightly tilted with respect to the jaw – 10° buccally in the maxilla and thesame angle lingually in the mandible (Figure 3.23). |
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