Quick Facts
Location: Mesial to maxillary lateral incisor tooth.
Eruption: 10 months (deciduous); 7 to 8 years (permanent).
Key Features: Crown, root, incisal margin, cingulum, and lingual fossa.
Nerve Supply: Superior dental plexus.
Arterial Supply: Anterior superior alveolar arteries.
Key Features & Anatomical Relations
The maxillary central incisor tooth is one of the two incisor teeth that are found in a quadrant of the maxillary dental arcade. It includes the following bony features:
- parts: crown, root, and cervical line;
- surfaces: incisal margin, and labial, lingual, mesial, and distal surfaces;
- landmarks: cingulum, marginal ridges, and lingual fossa.
The maxillary central incisor tooth is located:
- adjacent to the maxillary central incisor tooth of the opposite quadrant;
- mesial to the maxillary lateral incisor tooth of the same quadrant.
The root of the maxillary central incisor tooth is lodged in a dental alveolus of the maxilla.
Development
The deciduous maxillary central incisor tooth undergoes calcification during the fourteenth week in utero, with the development of the crown being completed during the second month after birth. Eruption of this tooth occurs during the tenth month after birth and the development of the root is completed during the second year.
The permanent maxillary central incisor tooth undergoes calcification during the third to fourth months after birth, with the development of the crown being completed during the fourth to fifth years. Eruption of this tooth occurs during the seventh to eighth years and the development of the root is completed during the tenth year (Nelson, 2014).
Function
As with all incisors, the maxillary central incisor tooth is bladelike and specializes in the cutting (incision) of food during mastication.
References
Nelson, S. J. (2014) Wheeler's Dental Anatomy, Physiology and Occlusion. 10th edn.: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Learn more about this topic from other Elsevier products
Maxillary Central Incisor
The FEE line evaluates a horizontal line passing through the maxillary central incisors' incisal edges and cusp tips of the maxillary canines in the frontal plane.
