The interdental plate refers to the bone

Bone

Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...

-filled mesial-distal

Anatomical terms of location

Standard anatomical terms of location are designations employed in science that deal with the anatomy of animals to avoid ambiguities that might otherwise arise. They are not language-specific, and thus require no translation...

 region between the teeth

Tooth

Teeth are small, calcified, whitish structures found in the jaws of many vertebrates that are used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also use teeth for hunting or for defensive purposes. The roots of teeth are embedded in the Mandible bone or the Maxillary bone and are...

. The word "interdental" is a combination of "inter" + "dental" (meaning "between the teeth") which originated in approximately 1870. In paleobiology

Paleobiology

Paleobiology is a growing and comparatively new discipline which combines the methods and findings of the natural science biology with the methods and findings of the earth science paleontology...

, the presence or absence of the interdental plate can determine the place of an animal in the evolutionary scale

Evolution

Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

, and paleontologists use the interdental plate when trying to classify a new specimen. Thecodont

Thecodont

Thecodont , now considered an obsolete term, was formerly used to describe a diverse range of early archosaurs that first appeared in the Latest Permian and flourished until the end of the Triassic period...

 reptiles and theropod dinosaur fossils have an interdental plate, whereas acrodont

Acrodont

Acrodont is a formation of the teeth whereby the teeth are consolidated with the summit of the alveolar ridge of the jaw without sockets. The term also refers to species of reptiles that have such a formation. This formation is common in the order Squamata, with the only other teeth formation in...

 reptiles such as Sphenodontia

Sphenodontia

Sphenodontia is an order of lizard-like reptiles that includes only one living genus, the tuatara , and only two living species...

do not. Its presence in Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx , sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel , is a genus of theropod dinosaur that is closely related to birds. The name derives from the Ancient Greek meaning "ancient", and , meaning "feather" or "wing"...

, an extinct avian

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

, resulted in the proposal of the dinosaur-bird connection

Dinosaur-bird connection

The origin of birds is a contentious and central topic within evolutionary biology. A close relationship between birds and dinosaurs was first proposed in the nineteenth century after the discovery of the primitive bird Archaeopteryx in Germany...

.

The term can also be used to refer to a manufactured object designed to be placed or worn between the teeth. An example would be a dental prosthetic designed to prevent contact between the teeth while the wearer is sleeping

Sleep

Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than...

. relates to an apparatus designed to measure the pressure exerted by the tongue

Tongue

The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...

 as a means of diagnosing ailments related to swallowing.

See also

• Interdental consonant
  Interdental consonant
  Interdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors...
  
  
• Interdental lisp
• Interdental woodstick
• Unvoiced interdental fricative
• Voiced interdental fricative
• Voiceless interdental fricative