THE SEX DIFFERENCE IN TOOTH CALCIFICATION

¹ Fels Research Institute, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio

1. Sex differences in tooth calcification were investigated in a total of 255 native-born white children from southwestern Ohio, using serial oblique-jaw x-rays taken over a period of 18 years.

2. In general, girls tended to be advanced over boys, in the mean ages at which each of 5 distinct stages of calcification and cruption were attained.

3. The smallest sex differences were observed early in life, with the absolute divergence between the sexes increasing steadily. On the average, girls were 3 per cent ahead of boys.

4. While the sex differences observed here were of the same order of magnitude as those known to exist for tooth eruption (5 per cent), they were considerably smaller than the sex differences in osseous development (10 to 25 per cent).

5. Since girls were advanced over boys well before the tenth year of life, the sex difference in tooth formation could not be attributed primarily to differences in the timing of sex hormone secretion.

6. These findings indicated the need for sex-specific, quantitative norms for tooth development.

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