ToothMaker

ToothMaker is a graphical user interface for a computational tooth model that was created in Jernvall Lab (University of Helsinki) in 2010 for simulating triconodont tooth morphology [1], then extended in 2014 for tribosphenic morphologies [2] and used in later studies [3-6].

Precompiled binaries for macOS and Linux can be downloaded from releases.

Examples

Some example morphologies from previous studies are shown below, with links to the associated parameter files. Red color indicates the presence of a growth factor produced at the enamel knots. See References for the corresponding manuscripts for more details.

Parameter files can be imported into ToothMaker either via Import button, or by drag and drop.

Harjumaa et al. (2014)

Mouse molar, occlusal	Mouse molar, lingual

Parameters: mouse_2014.txt

Renvoisé et al. (2017)

Vole molar, occlusal	Vole molar, lingual

Parameters: vole_2017.txt

Savriama et al. (2018)

Ringed seal P2, occlusal	Ringed seal P2, lingual

Parameters: ringed_seal_2018.txt

Grey seal P2, occlusal	Grey seal P2, lingual

Parameters: grey_seal_2018.txt

Hybrid P2, occlusal	Hybrid P2, lingual

Parameters: hybrid_2018.txt

References

[1] Salazar-Ciudad, I., Jernvall, J., 2010. A computational model of teeth and the developmental origins of morphological variation. Nature, 464, 583-586.

[2] Harjunmaa, E. et al. 2014. Replaying evolutionary transitions from the dental fossil record. Nature, 512, 44-48.

[3] Renvoisé, E. et al. 2017. Mechanical constraint from growing jaw facilitates mammalian dental diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114, 9403-9408.

[4] Savriama, Y. et al. 2018. Bracketing phenogenotypic limits of mammalian hybridization. Royal Society Open Science, 5, 180903. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180903.

[5] Couzens, A. M. et al. 2021. Developmental influence on evolutionary rates and the origin of placental mammal tooth complexity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(23), e2019294118.

[6] Christensen, M. M. et al. 2023. The developmental basis for scaling of mammalian tooth size. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(25), e2300374120.

Command-Line Usage

ToothMaker can also run parameter scans from the command line without the GUI:

ToothMaker --niter 9000 --param parameters.txt --scan scanlist.txt

This runs all parameter combinations defined in the scan list and produces simulation output, rendered screenshots, and cusp analysis results. See examples/cli/ for example input files and usage details.

Build instructions

Requirements

• Qt 5.15+ (Qt 6 untested)
• Clang 7+ (C++17 support required)
• GCC 7+ with gfortran (for the legacy Fortran model)
• GLEW, GLM (included in /ext)
• macOS 10.13+, Ubuntu 20.04+, or Windows 10+
• OpenGL 3.0 support

Quickstart (macOS & Linux)

Create a build folder at the root level (where ToothMaker.pro is), enter the build folder and type

qmake ../ToothMaker.pro;
make;
make resources

If everything goes fine, the program will be placed under ./interface/ at the build folder.

Additionally, in macOS call

macdeployqt interface/ToothMaker.app

to make a self-contained bundle.

Models

Three tooth models are included:

• Tribosphenic tooth - The 2014 model for tribosphenic tooth morphologies. This is a C++ translation of the original Fortran code and is the recommended version. It runs faster and produces numerically equivalent output to the Fortran version.
• Tribosphenic tooth (Fortran/legacy) - The original Fortran 90 implementation of the 2014 model, included for reference and validation.
• Triconodont tooth - The 2010 model for triconodont tooth morphologies. For most purposes, the Tribosphenic model is a superset of this model.

Model binaries are built automatically when building ToothMaker.

Windows

Windows builds are provided via GitHub Actions but are currently untested. Building from source requires Qt 5.15, MSVC (for the GUI), and MinGW with clang and gfortran (for the simulation models).