Anthropology and orthodontics
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INDIAN DENTAL
ACADEMY
Leader in continuing dental education
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Contents
Introduction
Anthropology-basics
Classification of human groups
Classification of mammals
Dental features of
primate
apes
humans
Anthropologic studies
Anthropometry
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Why anthropology?
Orthodontists are functioning
anthropologists.
We measure the bones of the face skull and
teeth and study the relationship of these
structures.
Thus we should be interested in learning
about the origins of human beings and
evolutionary development of our anatomy.
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What is anthropology?
The word anthropology derives from the Greek
anthropos, meaning "man," and logos, meaning
"study.
Therefore, anthropology is the study of people. It
is the study of humans in all places and at all times
It is a search, an investigation into what we are
now, from where we came and how we got to be
the way we are today.
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Branches of anthropology
There are four main branches in the study of
people:
Sociocultural anthropology
Archaeology
Linguistics
Physical anthropology
Applied anthropology
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Sociocultural anthropology -understand human social
organization and culture.
Archaeology- study material remains of human activity in
order to reconstruct how different cultures adjust to varying
situations through time and to explain stability and change.
Anthropological linguist- examines the history, function,
structure, and physiology of one of a peoples most definitive
characteristics- language.
Applied anthropology - concerned with the application of
anthropological ideas to current human problems.
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Physical anthropology- studies the biological
nature and evolution of humankind.
Physical anthropology focuses on the place of man
in nature.
It is a search into the ancestry, development,
genetic, and other characteristics of the human
species.
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Paleontology -The study of fossils.
Paleoanthropology- the study of the fossils of
modern humans and human ancestors.
Anthropometry -systematic art of measuring and
taking observations on man, his skeleton, his brain,
or other organs, by the most reliable means and
methods for scientific purposes.
Primatology
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Forensic anthropology It is a specialized area
of physical anthropology.
It is the identification of human remains for legal
purposes.
Teeth are especially important for several reasons.
Dental records are common
Contain many details
Can endure more harsh conditions
Dental anthropology - It is the study of teeth as
recorded in casts of living mouths or as seen in the
skulls of archaeological and fossil collections.
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Some Characteristics of Humankind
Physical anthropologists study the characteristics
that define us as human.
THE DEPENDENCE ON CULTURE
Culture is learned, nonrandom, systematic behavior
and knowledge that is transmitted from person to
person and from generation to generation. Culture
changes through time and is a main contributor to
human adaptability.
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THE HUMAN BRAIN AND ITS ABILITY TO SYMBOLIZE
One thing that makes the human brain a
revolutionary instrument is the potential for speech.
A symbol is anything, whether it be visual, oral,
tactile, or olfactory, that represents something else
that is distant in time and space.
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BIPEDALISM
The ability to walk consistently on two legs, is a
human trait.
Although human anatomy is adapted for bipedal
locomotion, the neural control needed to walk
bipedaly is learned behavior.
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Myths about Humankind
THE MYTHS ABOUT HUMAN ANTIQUITY- humans developed
last
THE MYTH OF TECHNOLOGY- some things are biologically
impossible ,similarly others are technologically infeasible or
improbable. It is not likely that we will solve the world's food
problem through technology.
If technological "progress" is not accompanied by appropriate
social change and ecological responsibility, people may drown
in the poisons of their own industrial wastes.
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THE MYTH OF PLENTY- cannot continue to grow in
number
1. limited number of plants
2. lack of space
THE MYTH OF HUMAN SUPERIORITY-
Anthropocentricity
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THE CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN GROUPS
Folk taxonomies
These categories reflect specific cultural traditions and differ
from society to society.
Folk Taxonomies of Race
Greeks and barbarians
Caucasoids, Mongoloids, Negroids, whites , African Americans,
Indians and Asians etc.
Do they reflect reality?
YES and NO
Many forms of behavior are determined by them.
But no anthropologically.
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Scientific Classification
Carolus Linnaeus- skin color, geographical location, and
personality traits.
H. sapiens Africanus negreus (black)
H. sapiens Americanus rubescens (red)
H. sapiens Asiaticus fucus (darkish)
H. sapiens Europeus albescens (white).
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Various criteria used for classification-
Skin colour
Blood group
Fossil record
Geographic distribution
New classification- J. Friedrich Blumenbach
Caucasian
Mongolian
Ethiopian
Malayan
American.
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Garn's classification based on geographical
distribution
1. Amerindian (the aboriginal inhabitants of North and South
America)
2. Asiatic
3. Australian
4. Melanesian (peoples of New Guinea and neighboring islands)
5. Micronesian (peoples of the islands of the northwest Pacific)
6. Polynesian
7. Indian (peoples of the subcontinent of India)
8. African
9. European.
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Humans place in living order
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CLASSIFICATION OF THE MAMMALS
Mammals belong to the class Mammalia, which is
divided into two subclasses containing three groups
that correspond to the three major kinds of
mammals.
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Prototherian mammals (monotremes)
Platypus and the Echidna
Lay eggs also produce milk.
They possess both reptilian and mammalian characteristics.
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Therian mammals
They produce live young.
Can be divided into two infraclasses.
Metatheria marsupials (pouched mammals)
Metatherian offspring are born while they are still
fetuses.
The fetus then crawls into the mother's, pouch or
fold, where it continues to develop and mature.
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Eutheria- These are the placental mammals
Their young remain inside the mother, nourished by
the placenta, until they reach an advanced state
of development.
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The primate order
Every order has a characteristic feature like:
Chiroptera ie. the bats have wings
Carnivora have sharp teeth
So, what is special about primates?
Adaptability
This is a response to arboreal habitat.
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Features of primates
Shared retained features-
Presence of clavicle.
Presence of radius and ulna
Pentadactylism
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Shared derived features.
Arboreal.
Replacement of claws by nails.
Ability to grasp- great toe and opposable thumb
Sense of touch- tactile pads.
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Poor sense of smell
Highly advanced vision-binocular,
stereoscopic and coloured.
More intelligent
Social
Produce single births.
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THE ORIGIN OF JAWS
A major event in Vertebrate evolution was the
evolution of jaws.
New structures do not simply arise from nothing.
They develop as modifications of preexisting
structures.
The jawless vertebrates have skeletal elements, gill
bars, that support the gill slits.
In early fish, the first gill bars enlarged to become
primitive jaw.
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Filter feeding restricted the jawless vertebrates to
very small food particles.
The evolution of jaws enabled them to prey on one
another and to proliferate.
Today these jawed vertebrates are represented by
the sharks and bony fish.
Land vertebrates eventually evolved from a
population of freshwater bony fish.
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WHAT IS DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY?
Dental Anthropology is the study of teeth in a
perspective beyond clinical science.
That perspective includes the study of dental
growth, theories on dental origin, primate dentition,
and population variation.
The first comprehensive review of research on
primate dentition was by Krogman in 1927.
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What do dental anthropologists do?
(1) Genetically controlled variables such as tooth crown size
and morphology are used to trace phylogenetic relationships
and historic trends in size, shape, and number of teeth.
(2) Crown wear and dental pathology give clues to dietary
and cultural behavior.
(3) Gross and microscopic defect analyses reflect disease and
dietary stress.
(4) Intentional cultural modifications of teeth reflect society
and culture of people, both present and past.
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(5) Bite marks, distinctive patterns of occlusion and wear,
missing and filled teeth, and radiographic landmarks make
teeth pivotal in many cases of forensic identification.
(6) The comparative anatomy of teeth provides crucial
evidence for systematics (classification) and determining
biological relatedness.
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Terminology in dental anthropology
Homodont
Heterodont
Monophyodont
Diphyodont
Polyphyodont
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Crown Form
Bunodont (Gr = mound or hill) teeth have cone-
shaped tubercles or cones; they are low crowned
with well-developed roots.
example is the posterior teeth in the pig.
Selenodont (Gr = the moon) teeth have cusps
transformed into half-moon shapes.
The concave side faces laterally in the upper jaw;
lingually in the lower jaw.
example is in the cheek teeth of sheep.
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Sectorial (L = secare to cut) teeth are blade-like
teeth adapted to cutting the diet into pieces and
swallowing them whole.
Lophodont (Gr = crest) molars are ridged teeth
that have transverse ridges as in the tapir.
Bilophodont molars have two sets of transverse
ridges.
Polylophodont molars have many ridges as seen
in the elephant molar
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Brachydont (Gr = short) teeth have low crowns and well-
developed roots. This condition is seen in humans
Hypsodont (Gr = height) teeth have long crowns and short
roots as seen in the horse. In them, it is a functional
adaptation for continuous wear sustained by chewing grass
with a high abrasive silica content.
Tusks are incisors or canines of continuous growth that
protrude beyond the lips when the mouth is closed.
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Primate dentition
Mammals are characterised by-
Heterodont
Diphyodont
Primate teeth
Four kind of teeth-
Incisors
Canines
Premolars
molars
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The Incisors are broad, cutting type of tooth with
a simple structure
Described as spatulate
The incisors are used to grasp food.
Primates that eat fruit use their incisors to tear
small pieces
Smaller food objects, such as seeds and grass are
usually passed directly back to the cheek teeth.
Primates that specialize in this type of diet often
have smaller incisors than do the fruit eaters.
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Dental comb
Prosimians are characterized by the development of
a dental comb which is formed by lower incisors
and canines that project forward horizontally
The lower canine is included in the comb.
The functions of the canine are taken over by the
first premolar, which then become canine like in
appearance.
The animal uses comb for grooming the fur and for
scraping gum and resins off the bark of trees.
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Canine- pointed ,curved usually larger than other
teeth
Function- grasping, stabbing, ripping and tearing
food
Plays a role in defense.
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Premolars and molars-
Called as cheek teeth
Function-chewing
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DENTAL FORMULAS
The types and numbers of teeth are
designated in dental formulas.
Dental formula of the common ancestor of
living placental mammals is
3.1.4.3
3.1.4.3
Primate evolution is characterized by a loss
of teeth in the dental formula.
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APE DENTITION
The incisors of the great apes are quite broad and
spatula-like
Upper incisors are implanted at an angle
Canine is large and projecting.
Spaces present in relation to canine ie primate
spaces.
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When the animal closes its mouth, the canines
interlock, each fitting into a space, or diastema in
the opposite jaw.
In the upper jaw the diastema is in front of the
canine, while in the lower jaw it is behind the
canine.
Sexual dimorphism is present
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Arches are U shaped.
Sectorial premolar.
Upper molar has 4 cusps and lower has 5
cusps called as Y-5 pattern
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Hominid dentition
Size of teeth is decreased
Arch length is reduced
All teeth are at same level
Canine is not projecting
Premolar is not sectorial
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No diastema
Curved or parabolic arch
Incisors are narrower and are vertical
Not much of sexual dimorphism
Molars have more rounded cusps
Thick enamel-more crushing due to tough and hard diet
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The jaw
The human jaw is smaller and is shorter
relative to the skull than is the ape jaw.
This is because human food is processed, so
no need to exert much pressure.
Apes have a simian shelf which is absent in
humans-a reinforcement or buttressing.
A prominent chin is a feature of humans
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Size of muscles of mastication is smaller.
Apes have large jaw & teeth and a large
masseter.
Thus, have a robust zygomatic.
A large temporalis is associated with flaring
zygomatic arch.
In humans this is slender and non flaring
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ULTRASTRUCTURE OF TOOTH ENAMEL
Electron microscope studies have shown
that the structure of tooth enamel is very
regular, yet variations exist among species.
There are three major patterns in the
arrangement of prisms.
Distinct differences in pattern exist
between living hominids and living and fossil
anthropoids.
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Pattern 1 prisms are found in insectivores and
many bats.
Pattern 2 prisms are found in most hoofed
mammals, rodents, and marsupials.
Prisms with pattern 3, often called the "keyhole"
pattern, are commonly found in humans.
All three enamel types can be found in the primate
order.
Pattern 3 is found in human enamel
Pattern 2 is frequently found in the enamel of the
rhesus monkey
Pattern 1 in the lemurs.
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DENTITION AND DIET
Primates have 3 dietary adaptations
Insectivores (insect eating)
Frugivores(fruit eaters)
Folivores(leaf eaters)
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Special dental adaptations to special dietary
requirements.
Molars of folivores are characterized by
development of shearing crest
Insectivores molars have high pointed cusps to
puncture the outer skeleton of insects.
Frugivores have molars with rounded cusps, few
crests.
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Development of Hominoids
Comprise of apes and humans.
First hominoids belong to early miocene era.
Were called as dental apes .
Because dentition resembles that of modern
apes.
Fossils were discovered in 1930s in africa.
Important genus is proconsul.
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Features
Vertically implanted incisors
Slender canines
Thin enamel on molars
V shaped dental arch.
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There was migration of various species to
Eurasia from Africa.
Jay Gould- said that the correct image for
the visualization of evolution is that of a
"copious branching bush" not that of a tree
or ladder.
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Miocene hominoids
DryomorphsAfrica, Europe
eg: procunsul
Ramamorphs-eastern Europe, India ,Pakistan
eg:shivapithecus
Pliomorphs
Features of Ramamorphs
1. Thick enamel on molars
2. Low cusps
3. Small canines
4. Sexual dimoprhism
5. Broad central incisors
6. Orthognathous mandible
Suggesting coarse diet
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The skull of Sivapithecus.
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Gigantopithacus it was probably the largest ape that ever
lived.
It may have been as tall as 2.75m and may have weighed
as much as 272 kg.
Found in India ,Pakistan and China
Features-
1. Small vertically implanted incisors
2. Reduced canines worn flat by the chewing of coarse
vegetation
3. Lack of a diastema
4. Crowding of the molars & premolars
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What did gigantopithecus have for dinner?
Paleoanthropology includes the reconstruction of
information about the life of extinct forms.
Eg:diet
Recent advances in this field are the identification
of phytoliths.
These are plant specific minerals which are
preserved during fossilisation.
Pieces of silica; visible under SEM.
Giganthopithecus diet include grasses like bamboo
and fruits.
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Australopithecus
Belong to family Hominidae
The other genus is Homo
Considered to be the earliest forms in the
direct line leading to modern humans.
Fossils found mostly in Africa
They extinct 900,000 million years ago
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Australopithecine Dentition
Australopithecine dentition is
very hominid-like.
A greater degree of sexual
dimorphism.
Resembles apes in some
features and simultaneously
is different in many ways.
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Features
Posterior teeth lie in a fairly straight line except for
the third molar which is positioned inward.
The upper incisors are relatively large and project
forward.
The canines project above the tooth row and are
conical in shape, in contrast to the spatulate shape
of the modern human canine.
Arch size is intermediate b/w modern humans and
apes
They have shallow palate.
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Kenya
Ethiopia
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Genus Homo
Classification
Consist of 3 species
Homo habilis ( handy human being)
Homo erectus (erect human being)
Homo sapiens (wise human being)-the only living
member of the genus
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H.habilis
Had large jaw and teeth
Although molars and premolars decreased in size.
Face was broad and flat
H.erectus
Were found in Java and china
Shows reduction in jaw size
More similar to Homo sapiens
Arches diverge posteriorly
More emphasis on incisors and canine
Suggesting meat in diet
Mandible lacks a chin
Have a mandible torus
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H sapiens
Found in Africa,Asia &Europe.
Had dental caries and abscess in the jaw
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Neandertals
Some believe they are the direct ancestors of
modern humans belonging to species H.sapiens
Others believe them to be a separate species
which was highly advanced in themselves
Neandertals Modern humans
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Features
1. Enlarged facial sinus
2. Forward projecting face
3. Teeth project forward
4. Gap b/w last molar and ramus
5. Varying development of chin
6. Arthritis in TMJ-excess stress may be they were
using teeth as tools
7. Incisors larger than modern humans
8. Molars and premolars are similar
9. Third molars were small sometimes
10. Showed high wear of teeth
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Homo sapiens sapiens
Believed to be originally from Africa
130000 years ago to present date
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Blandin made the first attempt to describe facial growth
(1836), finding that the pterygoid process backs up to the
posterior aspect of the maxilla
T. Wingate Todd (1885-1938) an English physician and
anatomist, made his great contributions by undertaking
growth studies.
He established standards of normal growth and development
at any period of childhood.
Using comparative anatomy and paleontology, Milo Hellman in
1927 demonstrated posterior growth of the face by surface
additions to the maxillary tuberosities as the face swings out
from beneath the cranium during growth.
Anthropologic studies
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The 1920s saw a final burst of anthropologic studies
In 1922, Keith and Campion, by superimposing drawings of
skulls of different ages, found that the face grows mostly
forward, a bit upward, and considerably downward, whereas
mandibular growth is up and back.
In 1924, Brash published The Growth of the Jaws and Palate,
in which he stated that, when he injected a red dye (madder)
into a pigs skull, he found a delicate balance between
deposition and resorption, depending on the functional
demands made on it.
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1929, William K. Gregory (1876-1970) published
From Fish to Man, describing changes traced
through 10 successive stages of phylogenetic
development of the human face.
Wilton M. Krogman contributed an anthropologic
comparison between the growth patterns of the
anthropoid and the human head.
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Impacted canine in a prehistoric skull
Angle orthodontist 1996
Skull was found in 1984 in Vukovar,Croatia
Specimen was of a female subject 35 to 45 years
old
Age of the specimen was 2700 to 2400BC
In the maxilla left canine was impacted.
Similar reports have been published by Iseri and
Uzel &Sullivan and Hellman
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Normally hypodontia and impacted teeth are
considered evolutionary alterations
But impaction also occurred in prehistoric man
Therfore it implies that the abnormality in eruption
of teeth is not caused by modified conditions
brought about by modern civilization
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Takashii Kaji did a study on Japanese population to
evaluate the presence of 3
rd
molar germs (AJO
2001)
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ANTHROPOLOGY AND MALOCCLUSION
In the 1930s, Weston Price travelled the world to document
the nutritional habits and physical degeneration of people
living on contemporary 'civilized' diets.
He found a significant increase in malocclusion in societies
living on contemporary diets of prepared foods from
domesticated crops.
Malocclusion arises from the lack of chewing stress with the
modern processed diet. This disuse has reduced jaw growth
and increased the incidence of occlusal variation.
Numerous studies are documented by Corrucinni (1991) which
confirm and extend the findings by Price
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COMPARISON IN AN ISOLATED RURAL COMMUNITY IN TRANSITION
A rural community in the Mammoth Cave region of central
Kentucky was surveyed over a 25 year period as it made the
transition to industry and mechanized farming.
The diet at the outset was home-produced foods (especially
dried pork and fried cornbread) which provided consistently
stressful chewing.
The transition was from this to a diet of purchased
supermarket foods. This study was of special interest since
diet changed but residence did not.
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Arch breadth was smaller and significantly more variable in
younger individuals.
Bigonial breadth, measured from an area affected by the
medial pterygoid and masseter muscle action was
considerably smaller in the younger sample.
This study tends to suggest that there is a genetic
predisposition or susceptibility to be diverted from
programmed oral growth pathway by environmental factors.
Lack of function, therefore, led to a different phenotypic
expression--one with more occlusal variation.
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OCCLUSAL VARIATION IN NORTHWEST INDIA
Children of similar genetic heritage, but differing lifestyles have been
studied side-by-side in India.
The communities studied included children born into a higher
socioeconomic urban class and children from rural communities with
its traditional dietary and residence habits.
Significant differences were found in the samples. The lowest
socioeconomic group had less variation from ideal occlusal relations
and had wider (broader) maxillary arches.
Lack of functional stimulation could explain occlusal changes that
were observed: small jaws with normal-size teeth, resulting in
crowding plus maxillary narrowing.
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THE BEGG HYPOTHESIS AND THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF
MALOCCLUSION
Dr.P. R. Begg has studied both living and deceased Australian Aborigines and
has used them as a model for Stone Age man.
He wrote his doctoral thesis the evolutionary reduction & degeneration
of mans jaws & teeth in 1939.
In 1954 he published paper entitled Stone age mans dentition
In 1954, Begg reasoned that the relatively low incidence of malocclusion in
Stone Age Man is due to the reduction by more than half an inch in the total
length of each of his dental arches.
This was caused by tooth attrition so that the smaller crowns could be more
easily accommodated into the jaws
Begg also argued that retention of unworn occlusal-cusp was not a feature of
non-modern societies
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According to him the function of cusps is
transitory: they establish mandibular and condylar
position.
A flat plane occlusion allows protrusive and lateral
movments without cuspal interferences and is
therefore less susceptible to TMJ disturbances
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THE ETIOLOGY OF THIRD MOLAR
IMPACTIONS
Humans evolved in a high dental attrition environment
Combined with physiological mesial drift, humans would
effectively achieve an increasing retromolar space as they
age.
The delayed eruption of the third molar seems to be an
evolutionary adaptation to interproximal wear of the cheek
teeth.
The recent secular trend in increasing impactions does not
seem to be a genetic change in humans. It is, instead, merely
a response to a soft food diet. Without interproximal wear of
the teeth, there simply is not enough room for third molar
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DENTAL CARIES
The clearest single factor in caries epidemiology is sugar.
This is demonstrated by the decrease in the rate of caries during sugar
rationing in Japan, Norway, and the Island of Jersey during World War II.
Dental caries also occurs amongst the great apes. particularly the
chimpanzees.
Of the great apes, chimpanzees have a diet most similar to our own; in the
wild their diet includes a lot of fruit in addition to leaves, flowers, nuts,
termites.
Gorillas, which are primarily leaf eaters, have a much lower rate of dental
caries. The orangutan in intermediate between chimpanzees and gorillas.
In the most ancient hominids, the incidence of caries is less than 1%.
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TOOTH AGENESIS
Agenesis of one or more teeth is one of the most common of
human developmental anomalies
Agenesis and polygenesis has been reported for the apes and
Old World monkeys. The frequency of agenesis amongst the
hominoids is highest in humans and is found most frequently
in the molar region.
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ANTHROPOMETRICS IN ORTHODONTICS
The quantification of man is a function of
modern biology.
Anthropometry+ craniometry =cephalometry
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ANTHROPOMETRIC AND CEPHALOMETRIC PROCEDURES
INSTRUMENTS
Measuring tape- Flexible steel tape graduated in
millimeters.
Anthropometer- Hollow sliding rods, graduated in
millimeters, used for taking various measurements
including vertical and transverse body
measurements.
Sliding Calipers -This is employed to measure head
and face diameters.
Sliding Compass- To measure smaller diameters of
the head.
Head Spanner- To determine height of the head.
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Various measurements
Head Length- The maximum
glabella occipital diameter
Is obtained with the spreading
calipers.
This dimension is taken from the
most prominent point on the
glabella to a point on the vertical
line bisecting the occiput
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Head breadth - is the greatest
transverse diameter measured in the
horizontal plane above the
supramastoids and the zygomatic
crests.
This measurement is taken with the
spreading calipers.
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Head circumference - is taken with a steel tape
through the most prominent part of the occiput and
just above the supra-orbital ridges.
Head Height -
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Facial Height- (Sliding calipers).
Total facial height -nasion (N) to Gnathion (Gn)
Upper facial height -nasion (N) to Prosthion (Pr)
Dental height -from prosthion to infradentale.
Lower facial height - infradentale to gnathion (Gn).
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Facial Width
Bizygomatic -zygion to zygion
Bigonial - gonion to gonion.
Maximum Mouth Breadth - The maximum breadth
of the mouth when the face is in a relaxed
condition
(from cheilion to cheilion).
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CRANIOFACIAL INDEXES
Definition- An index in anthropometry is the ratio of
a smaller to a larger measurement taken as
equivalent to 100 and expressed in terms of a
percentage.
To determine the proportional relation of the
breadth (width) of the head to its length (depth), it
is equated to the value of 100, and the breadth
then is expressed as a ratio of 100.
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Cephalic index is grouped under three categories
defined by Martin as follows:
Dolichocephaly 75.9
Mesocephaly 76.0 - 80.9
Brachycephaly 81.0
The cephalic index at the 4th month of intrauterine
life is very high, since until this time width grows
faster than length.
After this period the ratio falls rapidly, The cephalic
index decreases before birth and the head is
relatively dolichocephalic (anteroposteriorly long-
headed).
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The facial index- it is the ratio of the length
of the face to the width
The index of the upper face to the lower
face may be obtained in the same manner.
The index increases slightly annually as the
child grows; the face becomes relatively
broader
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The palatal index -is the ratio of the breadth to the
length
Breadth of the palate is taken from the mesial pits
of the right and the left first molars.
Length is taken from the inner alveolar point
between the maxillary central incisors to the
posterior nasal spine as seen on the roentgenogram
or dry skull.
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Conclusion
Anthropology not only provides an insight
into the human evolution but also gives us a
better understanding of the development of
malocclusion and the probable etiology
behind it.
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