Dental battery

A dental battery is a tightly packed set of teeth that function together as a grinding surface. It occurs in some herbivorous mammals and is continually renewed as teeth wear down.

Hypsodonty: A dental condition in which teeth have tall crowns that extend far above the gumline. Tall crowns provide a long reserve of tooth material for the wear a grinding battery produces.
Molar: A posterior tooth adapted mainly for crushing and grinding food. Molar crowns supply much of the grinding area in many dental batteries.
Equidae: The mammalian family that includes horses, asses, and zebras. Equids use long-crowned cheek teeth as grinding surfaces for abrasive vegetation.
Tooth comb: A row of elongated teeth or tooth-like structures used for grooming or feeding. A tooth comb is a specialized row, not a packed surface for grinding food.
Convergent evolution: The independent evolution of similar traits in different lineages under similar selective pressures. Distinct mammal and dinosaur lineages evolved dense grinding tooth arrays separately.
Horizontal tooth replacement: A pattern in which replacement teeth move forward from the back of the jaw as older teeth wear away. Forward movement keeps fresh grinding teeth entering the battery as its front teeth are lost.
Premolar: A tooth located between the canine and molars, often involved in crushing or grinding. Premolars can join molars to extend a battery along the cheek tooth row.
Horse: A domesticated equid with high-crowned cheek teeth adapted to prolonged grazing. Horse cheek teeth demonstrate how repeated wear and eruption preserve a grinding surface.
Dental loph: A ridge of enamel and dentine crossing a tooth crown in some herbivorous mammals. Lophs are grinding ridges on individual teeth, whereas a battery is an arrangement of teeth.
Hadrosaurid dental battery: The interlocking cheek-tooth arrangement of hadrosaurid dinosaurs, with multiple replacement teeth in each position. Its layered tooth rows are a particularly elaborate fossil example of a dental battery.

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