Dental follicle

Histologic slide showing a tooth bud.
A: enamel organ
B: dental papilla
C: dental follicle

The dental follicle is a sac containing the developing tooth and its odontogenic organ. The dental follicle (DF) differentiates into the periodontal ligament. In addition, it may be the precursor of other cells of the periodontium, including osteoblasts, cementoblasts and fibroblasts. They develop into the alveolar bone, the cementum with Sharpey's fibers and the periodontal ligament fibers respectively.

See also

• Tooth development

Similar to the alveolar bone, the periodontal ligament is derived from the dental sac.

References

• Cate, A.R. Ten. Oral Histology: development, structure, and function. 5th ed. 1998. ISBN 0-8151-2952-1.
• Ross, Michael H., Gordon I. Kaye, and Wojciech Pawlina. Histology: a text and atlas. 4th edition. 2003. ISBN 0-683-30242-6.
• (http://jdr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/87/8/767)