"Taurodontism is an abnormality of teeth in which there is an enlarged pulp chamber, that is the soft part inside which contains the blood vessels and nerves of the tooth.  It tends to make this pulp chamber particularly large beneath the clinical crown, ie the part in your mouth with prominent pulp horns which project a long way under the cusps of the tooth.  It primarily affects the molar teeth at the back of the mouth.  It is so called because it was thought to look like a bulls head with horns on x-ray images of teeth, hence named after taurus the bull.

As far as the implications of such an abnormality, there are no serious ones.  Because the pulp is closer to the outer part of the tooth than normal there is an increased risk of the pulp becoming involved earlier when there is tooth decay or the pulp being exposed when a cavity is prepared by the dentist for a filling.  It is sometimes seen in isolated cases but is commonly associated with Klinefelter syndrome where it is said to be more severe when there is an increased number of X chromosomes in the karyotype.  Such individuals are also said to have increased size of the permanent tooth crowns."

- thanks to Richard Oliver BDS BSc FDSRCPS PhD.

Above drawing from:

Paulsen, C. Alvin and S.R.Plymate: "Klinefelter's syndrome." The Genetic Basis of Common Diseases. eds. King, et al. (Oxford Monographs on Medical Genetics chapter 44). 1992. Pg 885.

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