As I was exploring AAPA website, I came across that dental anthropology is a subsection of biological anthropology. I thought this would be perfect for me, because dentistry is something I want to pursue in the future. The Dental Anthropology Association (DAA) is a non profit organization that utilizes the dentitions of humans and nonhumans (both past and present) to answer questions in the interest of anthropology. Dental anthropologist study different factors to contribute to the interest of anthropology. Some factors they study are development, number, size, pathology, modification, eruption, and wear of dentitions. These factors can contribute to the broader theme of anthropology.
On the DAA website, they provide a link to publications of journals that are available to the public . One study I found interesting was “Case Study: Expression of Two Near Absent Dental Traits, Lingual Cuspule and Paraconid, on One Archaic Period Modern Human from the Ohio Valley.” Lingual cuspule and paraconid are considered two dental traits that are near absent to the modern human population. The lingual cuspule comes from African populations, and paraconid was speculated to be lost in the primitive evolution in the Oligocene (34-23 millions of years ago). However, both of these dental traits were found in a male in a late Archaic (2500-500 BC) site in Ohio. This gave the possibility that the two traits could possibly be found in modern human population. They conducted their study by visiting the late Archaic site where they had found human skeletal remains. They observed 46 individuals for their study. This helped determine when each trait was last seen. This case study was done to further understand the traits, as well as their importance in biological variation and migrations. These traits could be seen as a secondary evolution trait if seen in the modern human population. There are more studies needed to be done. However, this study is important to anthropologists. The lost of these traits can determine the evolution of humans from millions of years ago to the modern day human.
Another study I found was “Global Distribution of Marginal Accessory Cusps of the Maxillary Premolars.” The method they used was calculating frequencies for marginal accessory cusps of the maxillary third (UP3) and fourth (UP4) premolars from original data sheets for different populations around the world. They divided the world population into five supra-geographic regions: western Eurasia, Sub-Sahara Africa, Sahul-Pacific, Sunda-Pacific, and Sino-Americans. It was determined that the way the premolars were positioned, it yielded different morphological outcomes for each of the populations. However, the studies determined that the migration patterns of east Asians led to higher frequencies. This laid the foundation of how populations’ geographic patterns determined the frequncies and location of the maxillary accessory cusps. This study was done to determine how geographic patterning/migration had an affect on the frequencies of the marginal accessory cusps of the maxillary premolars.
In conclusion, researchers had studied teeth to address problems in anthropology relating to evolution, population, health, and cultural behavior. I found it interesting that observing dentitions could answer questions for anthropologists to determine the development of what we are today.
References: http://www.dentalanthropology.org/ http://journal.dentalanthropology.org/index.php/jda/issue/view/72/76