Abstract
The aims of this study were to comparecrown dimensions of mandibular first molars (M1) andsecond molars (M2) between Mongolians (belonging tothe Khalkha-Mogol grouping) and Caucasians (NorthernEuropean ancestry) and to attempt to explain anyobserved differences in phylogenetic and ontogeneticterms. Materials in this study comprised dental casts of48 Mongolian female subjects with a mean age of 20.5years and 50 Caucasian female subjects with a mean ageof 21.5 years. For M1, the buccolingual diameters of bothmesial and distal crown components in Mongolianswere significantly larger than in Caucasians. For M2,the mesiodistal and buccolingual diameters of the distal crown components in the Mongolian samplewere significantly larger and the mesiodistal andbuccolingual diameters of mesial components weresignificantly smaller compared with those of Caucasians.Common environmental effects, possibly related to theprenatal environment, as well as genetic influences,may be contributing to the differences in buccolingualdimensions of M1 between Mongolians and Caucasians.Given that the M2 develops later and over a longerperiod of time than the M1, it is reasonable to assumethat this tooth may be subject to greater environmentalpressures than applied to the M1.
Highlights
Mongolia is a sparsely populated, landlocked country between Russia and the People’s Republic of China
The Mongol confederation was established by Ghengis Khan in 1206 but after the fall of the Great Mongolian Empire, during the Qing Dynasty of China, tribal alignments became more rigid as they were incorporated into a more centralized administrative system imposed by the Chinese
Mongolian dental casts were collected from students attending colleges and universities in Ulaanbaatar, who were born in Ulaanbaatar or its suburbs and who belonged to the Khalkha-Mogol grouping
Summary
Mongolia is a sparsely populated, landlocked country between Russia and the People’s Republic of China. Sundadonts whose teeth are relatively simple are thought to have retained dental features similar to those evident in late Pleistocene populations. Sinodonts were first recognized in a large skeletal series originating in Northern China and are hypothesized to have evolved from the Sundadont condition, developing a relatively more specialized and complex dental pattern. Turner (1990) observed this dental pattern in populations of Northern China, Mongolia, and Southern Siberia. Even though frequencies of occurrence and degrees of expression of nonmetric morphological crown features have been described in many Asian populations, including Mongolians (Scott and Turner, 1998; Turner, 1990; Manabe et al, 2003), there have been only a few studies describing mesiodistal and buccolingual crown diameters in Mongolians (Matsumura, 1995; Matsumura and Hudson, 2005; Hanihara, 2005). The study forms part of a larger investigation of the Mongolian dentition being undertaken by researchers from the Health Science University of Mongolia, Mongolia, and the Nippon Dental University School of Life Dentistry, Japan
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