title: Mathematical and descriptive classification of variations in dental arch shape in an Australian aborigine population.
abstract: The ability to describe dental arch shape is necessary for biomechanical studies of occlusion as well as for anthropological studies of human and primate dental variation. A mathematical method of describing and classifying human dental arch shape was used to assess the nature of individual variability. The method involved the calculation of a series of third-degree polynomials which were fitted to coordinate points along the dental arcade. The slopes of the polynomials, evaluated at these coordinate points, provided a multivariate description of shape, independent of arch size. Graphic representations of arch shape could be constructed from the polynomial equations. These mathematical techniques were used in association with multivariate and univariate statistics to explore the types of variability in dental arch shape among a population of Australian aborigines. The results illustrated the ambiguities of conventional subjective classifications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa.
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: McKee
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Molnar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001315:Australia; D003724:Dental Arch / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics