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Published on: August 22, 2022
Dental anthropology of a Brazilian sample: Frequency of nonmetric traits
Rachel Lima Ribeiro Tinoco1, Laíse Nascimento Correia Lima2, Fábio Delwing3
1Department of Forensic Dentistry, Piracicaba Dental School, State University of Campinas, Brazil.
Abstract:
Dental elements are valuable tools in a study of ancient populations and species, and key-features for human identification; among the dental anthropology field, nonmetric traits, standardized by ASUDAS, are closely related to ancestry. This study aimed to analyze the frequency of six nonmetric traits in a sample from Southeast Brazil, composed by 130 dental casts from individuals aged between 18 and 30, without foreign parents or grandparents. A single examiner observed the presence or absence of shoveling, Carabelli's cusp, fifth cusp, 3-cusped UM2, sixth cusp, and 4-cusped LM2. The frequencies obtained were different from the ones shown by other researches to Amerindian and South American samples, and related to European and sub-Saharan frequencies, showing the influence of this groups in the current Brazilian population. Sexual dimorphism was found in the frequencies of Carabelli's cusp, 3-cusped UM2, and sixth cusp.
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