Size Interrelationships of the Mesial and Distal Teeth

¹ Department of Growth and Genetics, Fels Research Institute, Yellow Springs, Ohio

Size interrelationships, that is, the mean intercorrelations for each tooth with every other tooth, were determined for the more mesial and the more distal teeth of each morphological class.

From 182 correlations, it was possible to show that the more mesial teeth exhibited higher size intercorrelations than the more distal teeth, even when like-numbered teeth were alone compared.

These positional differences in crown diameter interrelationships were not explainable in terms of differences in size variance (²).

Together with previous information on calcification and eruption timing and numerical variation, these data indicate that the more distal teeth may together be viewed as a distinct developmental "field," characterized by lesser size communality.