Asian shovel teeth photo

The average adult human has 32 teeth—tiny chunks of smooth enamel, bloody pulp, yellow dentin and solid cementum. Beyond chomping, cutting and chatting, these pearly whites can reveal incredible secrets about our past. Just this year, teeth have helped scientists trace the path of early human migration, proved the continued existence of an indigenous people long believed extinct and even revealed the ancient roots of friendships between humans and dogs. Now, scientists think ancient shovel-shaped teeth might hold the key to the success of Native American ancestors on their journey from Siberia to Alaska.

Shovel shape of upper incisors is a common characteristic in Asian and Native American populations but is rare or absent in African and European populations. Like other common dental traits, genetic polymorphisms involved in the tooth shoveling have not yet been clarified. In ectodysplasin A receptor EDAR , where dysfunctional mutations cause hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, there is a nonsynonymous-derived variant, C rs , that has a geographic distribution similar to that of the tooth shoveling. This allele has been recently reported to be associated with Asian-specific hair thickness. For this purpose, we measured crown diameters and tooth-shoveling grades and analyzed the correlations between the dental traits and EDAR genotypes in two Japanese populations, inhabitants around Tokyo and in Sakishima Islands. The effect of the allele was additive and explained

Finding good photos is really difficult. Fletcher was kind enough to share with us a photo of his own shovel shaped teeth. I have shovel shaped teeth too, all 4 of my top middle teeth. In addition, they have a bony shaped ridge near the gumline that is very pronounced and extends down over part of the shovel shape, to about one fourth of the tooth.

Several years ago, when my daughter lost her baby teeth and grew new adult teeth, we noticed one in particular. The right lateral incisor next to the canine on the top row is shaped like a T when viewed from below. From the front, the tooth appears normal—but it has another point, or ridge, perpendicular to the front.