The dentition of the Lengua indians of Paraguay

The crown morphology of 202 dental casts from living Lengua Indians is described and compared with other Amerind, Melanesian, and Caucasoid samples. The Lengua dentition shows a high Mongoloid component with little effects of possible European admixture, thus supporting the theory that despite early Franciscan and Jesuit attempts at missionization, much of the Paraguayan Chaco has remained genetically and culturally relatively intact well into the present century. A finding of note was the apparent sexual dimorphism of the Carabelli cusp, which questions earlier assumptions that no correction for sex need be made in population studies when dealing with this trait. Since mandibular canines show proportionately less wear in the canine distal accessory ridge area than maxillary canines, the value of the incidence of this trait in population and microevolutionary studies is questioned.