Doctoral Dissertation Research: Deciduous Dental Phenotypes and Biodistance Analyses

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Teeth are the most durable parts of the human body and provide information on a number of aspects of an individual's life such as diet, physical health, and movement across the landscape. Teeth also record information on genetic relatedness, which makes them useful for research on human population relationships and forensic identification of missing persons or accident/crime victims. Importantly, because teeth preserve in the archaeological record, the same types of information can be reconstructed for people who lived in the past. This doctoral dissertation research project will explore the genetic underpinnings of the human deciduous dentition (i.e., "baby teeth" in children younger than 10 years of age) and develop methods for identifying child relatives using teeth alone. The project's primary rationale is to explore the dynamics of human social groups in the past. However, the results may also improve forensic efforts to identify missing children, refine data collection standards for forensic evidence, and provide information on dental inheritance relevant to clinical dentistry and orthodontics. The project will also support student training and development of international collaborations.This project examines the genetic structure of the deciduous dentition and has three goals: 1) to analyze the developmental program underlying deciduous dental phenotypes, 2) to evaluate the performance of deciduous dental phenotypes for accurately reconstructing known genealogical relationships, and 3) to compare the performance of deciduous versus permanent dental phenotypes for reconstructing known genealogical relationships. Data on tooth size and morphology will be collected from deciduous and permanent tooth crowns on dental casts representing individuals of known pedigree. Biological distances generated from deciduous dental data will be compared to known genetic distances between individuals to determine how deciduous traits can be used to accurately reconstruct genealogies. These biological distances will also be compared to those generated from permanent dental phenotypes as well as "environmental distances" generated from health history data to examine potential developmental and environmental factors that affect crown morphology.