Describe the appearance of gemination.

• A. A single tooth bud attempting to split, resulting in a tooth with a bifid crown.
• B. Fusion results in two crowns fused into one tooth.
• C. A missing tooth due to agenesis.
• D. An extra tooth.

Answer: (A)

Gemination happens when a single tooth bud tries to divide into two. That creates a tooth with a bifid (split or forked) crown, often with a groove or notch at the incisal edge. The root structure is usually a single root with a single canal, and the total number of teeth remains normal because you haven’t formed a second tooth—just a crown that looks split. This matches the description of a single tooth bud attempting to split, resulting in a tooth with a bifid crown. Fusion, agenesis, and supernumerary teeth describe different situations: fusion merges two tooth germs into one tooth and often reduces the tooth count; agenesis is the absence of a tooth; a supernumerary tooth is an extra tooth.