Get your teeth into it
1 Mar 2012 by Evoluted New Media
Milk teeth and permanent adult teeth do not develop in the same way suggests new research which could assist in age-at-death determinations in forensic situations.
Dr Patrick Mahoney from the University of Kent reconstructed enamel development in a sample of modern human deciduous maxillary and mandibular anterior teeth, and compared them to his previous study on molar teeth.
Mahoney – from the School of Anthropology and Conservation – expected the microscopic tooth enamel growth to be linked to the sequence the teeth erupt through the gums, but he discovered development changed along the tooth row.
“Teeth retain a growth record,” Mahoney said. “This can be assessed through the microscopic structures in tooth enamel. By examining permanent adult teeth in this way, it has provided us with key insights into the evolution of dental development, as well as aspects of life history in our fossil ancestors.”
It was discovered that early erupting front incisors grew rapidly, mainly before birth, and the later erupting molar teeth at the back of the mouth formed more slowly – mainly after birth.
“Now we know that human milk teeth do not develop in the same way as adult permanent teeth, we can start the discovery process again, through comparative analyses with other primates and our fossil ancestors,” said Mahoney.
Relatively little was known about the microscopic growth of human teeth before this research – published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology – but researchers hope it may find a use in assessing the dental development of humans through fossils, and assist in age-at-death determinations in forensic situations.
