We’re talking today about dental molds.

Image courtesy of prowhiteteeth.com

Wait. That’s not quite right.

Same root word, but rather different meanings.

We’re talking today about “dentil molding”, which looks like this:

Image courtesy of invitinghome.com

Can you see the similarities between those two pictures? They both have orderly rows of square (or square-like) silhouettes that stand out from the backing they are attached to, giving them some depth.

Like the decorative molding we discussed last week, you can find dentil molding in all sorts of places that need a decorative trim or detail. Here’s a great example of dentil molding dressing up an architectural facade:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Here’s an example of dentil molding dressing up some cabinetry:

Image courtesy of cardellkitchens.com

Here it is again, combined with some egg and dart molding, decorating an elaborate mantle:

Image courtesy of andythornton.com

Can you see the dentil line right up at the top of the carved rows? Dentil molding is a very popular motif because it can be used with very traditional styles, like the mantle above, and more modern decor. You can find it in some rather prominent places that you may not have even noticed before now, like on this famous residence:

Image courtesy of whitehousemuseum.org

Think you can spot dentil molding when you see it now? Do you have some dentil molding in your home? What other motifs are in your home that you need to identify? Leave a comment describing them for me and we’ll discuss them in a future post!

Want more Design Vocabulary? You can see everything we’ve talked about so far right here.