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Diastema

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
diastema [‚dī·ə′stē·mə]
(anatomy)
A space between two types of teeth, as between an incisor and premolar.
(cell and molecular biology)
Modified cytoplasm of the equatorial plane prior to cell division.

Diastema 

an excessive interval or space between teeth in mammals, usually caused by reduction of part of the teeth. In most herbivorous animals the cuspids and sometimes the incisors are reduced. Similar diastemata occur in the upper and lower jaws of rodents, horses, kangaroos, and other animals. In ruminants, diastema occurs only in the lower jaw. In carnivores it takes place without reduction of teeth. One diastema occurs in front of the fangs of the upper jaw (providing space for the lower fangs), and another is behind the lower fangs (allowing room for the upper fangs during biting). In closing the jaws the fangs nest and form a solid closure, preventing lateral motion of the jaw and aiding in the holding of prey.



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The body mass of the bank vole is best correlated with three mandibular characters--total length of mandible at processus articularis excluding incisors, length of mandible excluding incisors, and maximum height of mandible excluding coronoid process, and three maxillary characters--zygomatic skull width, length of cranial (upper) diastema, and length of foramen incisivum.
To wit: -- A Sad, Sad Tooth Story When I was a child, I had a diastema -- a gap between my front teeth, like Madonna.
Beauty rears its ugly head, of course: there would be no "Wonderful Tonight" without Pattie's long blonde hair, corn-flower-blue eyes, neoteny (the retention of such juvenile characteristics as large, widely-spaced eyes), and diastema (that adorable little space between the front teeth that drove director Les Blank, for example, so mad he made a film in 1987 called "Gap-Toothed Women" to celebrate it).
 
 
 
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