Human tooth development is postulated that both models influence tooth development at different times. Other structures that may appear in a developing tooth in this stage are enamel knots, enamel cords, and enamel niche. Hard tissues, including enamel and dentin, develop during the next stage of tooth development. This stage is called the crown, or maturation stage, by some researchers. Important cellular changes occur at this time. In prior stages, all of the IEE cells were dividing to increase the overall size of the tooth bud, but rapid dividing, called mitosis, stops during the crown stage at the location where the cusps of
Tooth decay includes dental fluorosis and developmental defects of the tooth including hypomineralization of the tooth and hypoplasia of the tooth. The early carious lesion is characterized by demineralization of the tooth surface, altering the tooth's optical properties. Technology utilizing laser speckle image (LSI) techniques may provide a diagnostic aid to detect early carious lesions. Caries can be classified by location, etiology, rate of progression, and affected hard tissues. These forms of classification can be used to characterize a particular case of tooth decay in order to more accurately represent the condition to others and also indicate the severity of tooth destruction.