An in vitro system consisting of rat incisor fragments was used to study the process of dentinogenesis. In order to establish the usefulness of the organ culture, the biosynthesis and deposition of the major noncollagenous components of dentin, the phosphophoryns, were followed for specific lengths of time in culture. Three criteria were satisfied: (1) the synthesis of proteins which appeared to be chemically identical to the native proteins of dentin, (2) the accumulation of the phosphophoryns within the matrix or time, and (3) the association of the secreted proteins with the mineral phase of dentin. The synthesis of phosphophoryns was determined by using both (3H)-serine and (32P)-inorganic phosphate as precursors for synthesis of protein and post-translational modification of serine to phosphoserine. In vitro synthesized phosphophoryns were characterized by 1) their accumulation and EDTA extractability from within dentin, 2) calcium chloride precipitability, 3) elution on anion-exchange columns (DEAE cellulose and AGMP50), and 4) Mr's on SDS-PAGE and Sepharose CL-6B columns. This novel system of studying dentinogenesis provides a model with which to study the regulation of extracellular matrix protein synthesis and may be useful for revealing the effect of other agents which influence tooth development and mineralized tissue metabolism in general.