Author: Glossary

  • Lap

    To cover, fold over, or lie on top of, as in the ridge lap of an artificial tooth that covers the residual ridge.  

  • Land area

    The area of a dental cast that denotes the end of the replicated anatomic surface of the mouth and the beginning of a border of the cast.  

  • Lancinating pain

    A sharp, piercing, cutting, knife‐like pain that is usually intermittent.  

  • Laminin

    A high molecular weight glycoprotein composed of three polypeptide chains that are organized in a cross‐like manner; functional domains of this molecule have affinity for cell surface receptors and extracellular matrix components. Large, non-collagenous glycoprotein with antigenic properties. It is localized in the basement membrane lamina lucida and functions to bind epithelial cells to the…

  • Laminate

    Layered material. In dentistry, a thin layer or veneer of restorative material applied to the surface of a tooth, usually for cosmetic purposes. (In leaves) with an expanded blade (as opposed to with a grass-like leaf). A packaging material consisting of two or more films bonded together to achieve better functional protection in such terms…

  • Lamina propria

    Connective tissue that is highly vascularized and lies beneath the basement membranelining the epithelium; vascularized connective tissue layer of mucous membranes. The connective tissue of mucous membranes containing, e.g., blood vessels and lymphatic tissues.  

  • Crestal lamina dura

    The layer of compact bone at the alveolar crest.  

  • Lamina dura

    The sheet of compact bone that forms the tooth alveolar wall or tooth alveolus. A radiographical term describing the compact bone (alveolar bone proper) that surrounds the roots of teeth. In a state of health, it appears on a radiograph as a dense radiopaque fine.  

  • Lamina

    One of the thin layers or flat plates of a larger composite structure, such as bone or tissue. Expanded part of a leaf blade or perianth. A thin plate or flat layer. A thin membrane. A side part of the posterior arch in a vertebra. Laminae, thin membrane or plate-like structure, as the two parts…

  • Lamellar bone

    Adult, mature bone consisting of 3–5 μm‐wide layers of mineralized collagen fibrils. The orientation of fibrils changes from layer to layer; this construction is often compared with that of plywood. It appears birefringent in polarized light and is found in mature cortical as well as trabecular bone.