Approximal Attrition and Permanent Tooth Crown Size in a Romano-British Population

The aim was to measure mesiodistalcrown size of both sexes in different age groups of a wellcharacterised Romano-British population to determinethe progressive effects of approximal attrition. Fromthe collection in the British Museum of Romano-British skeletons excavated from Poundbury, aged andsexed by Museum staff on established criteria, twosamples were selected randomly from those with intactpermanent dentitions. The first examiner measured theteeth of 30 males and 30 females aged 14-24 years andthe second examiner those of 59 males and 51 femalesdistributed across the four age groups, namely 14-24,25-34, 35-45, over 45 years. The mesiodistal diameter ofeach permanent tooth was measured on two separateoccasions and the mean for each tooth type in each agegroup calculated. Differences were explored with twosample t-tests and multiple regression analysis. Theintra-operator reproducibility for difference tooth typesranged from r = 0.92 to r = 0.99 and for inter-operatorreproducibility from r = 0.74 to r = 0.99. In the youngestage group males had larger teeth than females withthis difference being statistically significant for mosttooth types. There was a pattern of decreasing toothsize over the four age groups, with males more affectedthan females. Different tooth types showed differentreductions, the greatest being in upper and lowerincisors and upper first molars and the least in lowersecond molars, upper second molars and third molars.The average total arch length reduction estimated by twodifferent methods between aged groups 1 and 4 was 10.0mm in the upper jaw and 6.4 mm in the lower jaw. Thus,in this Romano-British sample all tooth types showedreduction in mesiodistal diameter with increasing age,the extent varying between the sexes, the jaws andtooth types. From comparable studies, this approximalattrition was slightly greater than for mediaeval Swedesand considerably greater than modern Swedes and otherCaucasians.