Genetic Variability of Permanent Tooth Crowns as Ascertained from Twin Data

Abstract

Heritabilities of mesiodistal crown diameters in permanent dentition were estimated on the basis of 266 Japanese twin pairs using a formula which seems to be the most reasonable one available so far. As a result, it was recognized that all the teeth examined had significant genetic variances, and that the teeth with lower genetic variability corresponded with those which were known to have been relatively stable in the human evolution. One of possible explanations for this fact is that such stable teeth have been controlled by almost common genotypes throughout the human evolutionary processes.