ArcaMax

"I have been to the endodontist and the periodontist (and had dinner with my cousin, an orthodontist)," a reader wrote me a while back. "So why am I going to a dentist and not a dontist?"

And why am I thinking of a bad poem?

I once had a dentist named Don.

My orthodontist was Denny.

When Don had done drilling and Denny his billing,

No teeth nor cash had I any.

Now to the question... In teeth and words, it all comes down to the roots. "Dent-" descends from the Latin word for tooth, "dens," while "dont-" derives from the Greek word for tooth, "odon."

The Latin "dens" also gives us "indent" (because notched indentations look like teeth marks); "trident" (a fork with three teeth); and "dandelion" (its leaves look like the teeth of a lion, from the French "dent de lion," lion's tooth).

The Greek "odon" gives us "orthodontist," "periodontist" and "endodontist, as well as "mastodon."

Mastodon? One feature that distinguishes skeletons of this extinct mammal from those of elephants is a nipple-shaped protrusion on the crowns of its molars. So "mastodon" is a combination of the Greek words "mas" (breast or nipple) and "odon" (tooth). And that's the honest tooth!

The Greek root "ortho-" means "straight" or "correct," so an "orthodontist" is one who straightens the teeth. (Why am I picturing a caveman orthodontist trying to force huge braces onto the tusks of a wild-eyed mastodon?)

"Ortho-" also gives us "orthodox" (someone who adheres to correct or traditional ideas or practices); "orthography" (the art of writing letters of the alphabet properly); and "orthopedics" (the branch of medicine concerned with correcting or preventing disorders of the skeleton).

"Periodontics," literally "near the tooth," is the branch of dentistry concerned with the tissue and structures surrounding and supporting the teeth. Think gums. "Endodontics," literally "inside the tooth," is the branch of dentistry dealing with the tooth's root and pulp (the soft, sensitive tissue in the tooth's center). Think root canal.

While most words derived from the Latin "dens" entered English a long time ago -- "indent" (1300s), "trident" (1599), "dentist" (1752) -- most words derived from the Greek "odon" are fairly new, e.g., "orthodontics" (1909), "periodontics" (1944) and "endodontics" (1946).

When these new specialties emerged during the 1900s, their names were based on the Greek "odon" rather than the Latin "dens." Call it a 20th-century version of the Greek Revival.

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Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

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