Protocol for scoring dental morphology: systematization of observation in professional and academic training contexts

Abstract

In bioarchaeology, dental morphology centers on crown and root traits that are either present or absent and, when present, commonly exhibit a range of expression from slight to pronounced (e.g., shovel-shaped incisors, Carabelli’s cusp). Twin and family studies show these variables are determined prima-rily by genetic factors. Numerous population studies have demonstrated that nonmetric dental traits are powerful tools for inferring biological affinity among samples at the local, regional, and global levels. The goal of this work is to provide professionals and students with a list of 27 essential dental traits, which constitute the minimum number of variables to characterize skeletal or living samples’ dentitions. Additional recommendations beyond the ‘essential non-metric dental trait’ list focus on (a) methods of scoring occlusal wear, (b) the format of the dental morphological data base, (c) the basics of the individual count method, and (d) the importance of evaluating intraobserver error (scoring consistency).