Comparative anatomy of teeth from past to present.

The comparative anatomy of teeth has a long tradition in research, starting more than two thousand years ago in antiquity. In the 19th century, Richard Owen's oeuvre Odontography (1840-45) contributed much to establish odontology as an independent scientific discipline. After a short outline of the historical development of the comparative anatomy of teeth, we describe the contents and importance of Owen's Odontography. Finally, we sketch the contemporary situation of dental morphology, which in the course of the last thirty years has developed into an important and internationally highly recognized multidisciplinary field.