We have to have pictures. I like pictures. I really like this picture (it doesn't really have anything to do with my research except having teeth). This is part of a series of photographs of dissected skulls taken by Drs Tom Lakars and John Wheeler at the UIC College of Dentistry in 1976. This particular photograph is of a 5 year old child. You can clearly see his permanent upper right canine and mandibular first molar, neither of which has erupted. This is an awesome picture, and if I were writing a paper about ageing a skeleton based on dental evidence, I'd go on more about it, but mostly I just like the picture. It's fascinating. More Skulls

Research Topic Summary

My research will be done on the topic of the uses of dental morphology in Anthropology. Dental morphology is used by the anthropologist both for identifying individuals (in a forensic setting) and for comparing populations (the general scope of the dental anthropologist). The paper will focus on the use of nonmetric crown traits in permanent teeth. A nonmetric trait is one which is either present or absent (e.g. shoveling of the incisors) as opposed to a trait which may be measured and quantified (e.g. enamel thickness). Crown traits are those are visible in the mouth in on a cast. I will focus on the permanent dentition for several reasons, but primarily because I am more familiar with adult dentition than the deciduous dentition of children. There is also far more research available on the permanent dentition than on the deciduous. To further narrow the scope of my paper, I have decided to focus on three or four traits (including Carabelli’s trait and shoveling). I will decide on the remaining traits to focus on at a later time. Rather than only describing the traits, which would lead to a short paper, I will also give a brief overview of the world populations that each individual trait is found in, including their frequencies.

A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy.

-Benjamin Disraeli

Journal Article I

Edgar, H.J.H. Prediction of Race Using Characteristics of Dental Morphology. J Forensic Sci 2005; 50(2): 269-73. Good article discussing a technique for comparing morphological traits to determine "social race affiliation" (i.e. likely ancestry). Study used samples of modern African and European American dental casts. Edgar determined that of 136 observed traits, eight had frequencies that differed enough (between African and European Americans) to be of use. 90% of the cases were correctly identified using a series of tables indicating the presence or absence of traits and the likelihood that the trait is found in a population.

Significant Traits

• Tuberculum dentale
• Lower premolar cusp variation (mandibular anterior premolar)
• Lower premolar cusp variation (mandibular posterior premolar)
• Deflecting wrinkle
• Trigonid crest
• Mandibular molar cusp 5 (Hypoconulid) (mandibular molar 2)
• Mandibular molar cusp 5 (Hypoconulid) (mandibular molar 3)
• Mandibular molar cusp 7 (Metaconulid)

We must dare to think “unthinkable thoughts . . . . We must learn to welcome and not to fear the voices of dissent . . . . Because when things become unthinkable, thinking stops and action becomes mindlessness. -J.W. Fulbright