Hypotrophic Roots of the Upper Central Incisors - a Proposed New Discrete Dental Trait

Abstract

This paper describes a newly defined nonmetric trait in the human dentition, i.e., Hypotrophic Roots of the Upper Central Incisors (HRUCI). Teeth presenting HRUCI are characterized by abnormally short roots whose crowns exhibit no apparent morphological alterations. The trait was observed in six samples from collective funerary sites in the Iberian Peninsula dated from the Late Neolithic to the Chalcolithic period.