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Updated: Oct 13, 2025

Author Spotlight: Establishing an Accurate Microhardness Testing Protocol for Craniofacial Tissues

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Published on: April 26, 2024

Dentin hardness differences across various mammalian taxa.

Elise Geissler¹, W Scott McGraw², David J Daegling¹

¹Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.

Journal of Morphology

|November 17, 2021

Summary

Mammalian dentin hardness varies significantly, but microhardness tests did not distinguish between hard and abrasive diets. Generalized diets showed high dentin hardness variation, suggesting niche variation or lack of selective pressure.

Keywords:

Knoop hardness test biomechanics dentin microhardness

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Area of Science:

Paleontology
Mammalian Biology
Dental Morphology

Background:

Dentin microstructure variations are used for dietary reconstruction.
The link between diet and dental morphology, specifically dentin microstructure, requires empirical testing.

Purpose of the Study:

To empirically test the association between diet and mammalian dentin microstructure.
To investigate if hard or abrasive diets correlate with specific dentin hardness patterns.

Main Methods:

Microhardness tests were performed on molar dentin sections from ten mammalian taxa.
Taxa included primates and non-primates with durophagous, abrasive, and generalized diets.

Main Results:

Significant variation in dentin hardness was observed across mammalian taxa.
The study did not find a clear distinction in dentin hardness between hard and abrasive diets.
Species with generalized diets exhibited high variance in hardness and softer dentin.

Conclusions:

Dentin hardness variation may reflect niche variation or lack of sustained selective pressure in generalized feeders.
Phylogenetic signals in dentin hardness warrant further systematic investigation.