Advances in Oral Biology, Volume 1, aims to facilitate communication between dental scientists by providing critical surveys of the state of knowledge in selected areas of biology that bear upon growth, development, and maintenance of normal function of oral tissues on the one hand, and on the other, departures from this norm that eventually become recognized as disease. The value of this broad approach is well illustrated by the contributions appearing in this first volume, wherein the authors show the extent to which a multidisciplined approach has led to the acquisition of new information about the structure, chemical composition, and function of oral tissues. The book contains 11 chapters and opens with a discussion of salivary secretions. This is followed by separate chapters on movement and forces in tooth eruption; physiological concepts of mastication; studies of mucins and blood-group substances; cytochemical aspects of oxidative enzyme metabolism in gingival; and dynamics of supragingival calculus formation. Subsequent chapters deal with the effect of tetracycline on mineralization and growth; citrate in mineralized tissues; polarization microscopy of dental enamel; and changes in the properties and composition of the dentin matrix caused by dental caries.