Antoine, Daniel; (2001) Evaluating the periodicity of incremental structures in dental enamel as a means of studying growth in children from past human populations. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), University of London.

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Abstract

The periodicity of incremental structures in dental enamel is increasingly being used to reconstruct crown growth and dental development in children, the timing and sequence of which has important implications for the study of human remains and hominid evolution. The method relies on the regular incremental growth of enamel, in which prism cross-striations are believed to represent a circadian rhythm in enamel matrix secretion. Some researchers have argued against the regularity of this growth rhythm and the method used to reconstruct dental development. The method was therefore tested on the developing permanent dentition of eight children whose age-at-death is known independently from parish records and coffin plates, buried between AD 1729 and 1852 in the crypt at Christ Church, Spitalfields (London). The specimens selected were aged between 2 and 4 years and death had interrupted the formation of most of their crowns. This was used to calibrate the periodicity of incremental structures. Thin sections of each tooth type were taken and, by using photomontages at X300 (polarised transmitted light microscopy), cross-striation counts were recorded from the neonatal line (marking the point of birth) or from the first layer of enamel in the lower first molar mesio-buccal cusp (close to birth), to the last layers of enamel matrix formed. All eight individuals produced consistent cross-striation counts that closely matched the independently known ages. These results appear to confirm that cross-striations do indeed represent a circadian rhythm to enamel matrix secretion. Using accentuated brown striae of Retzius, cross-striation counts were also accurately matched within different parts of a single tooth and between teeth of the same individual, showing that these structures can be counted with a good degree of consistency. This method was then used to reconstruct, with some precision, the timing and sequence of dental development, as well as to investigate in detail some hypoplastic defects.

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