... and mesenchymal stem cells in the proximal region of the tooth. Enamel, the hardest component of the tooth, is continuously deposited by stem cell-derived ameloblasts exclusively on the labial, or outer, surface of the tooth. The epithelial stem cells that are the ameloblast progenitors reside in structures...

... ameloblasts during the maturation phase of enamel formation. The role of Cbfa1 in tooth morphogenesis is further illustrated by the misshapen and severely hypoplastic tooth organs in Cbfa1 −/− mice. These tooth organs lacked overt odontoblast and ameloblast differentiation and normal dentin and enamel...

... as signaling centers directing the morphogenesis of tooth cusps. Apoptosis was also detected in other restricted epithelial cell populations including the dental lamina, ameloblasts, as well as stratum intermedium and stellate reticulum cells suggesting that the removal of these epithelial cells occurs...