A Comparative Study of Evolutionary Trends in the Upper Molar Pattern of Recent Kodiak Island Inhabitants and Subrecent Javanese Malayans

¹ Department of Prosthodontics, Dental School of the University of Utrecht, Netherlands

These conclusions demonstrate that it requires great caution and much evidence to look upon a certain molar as being more primitive (conservative) or progressive than another. To get an insight into this problem it is necessary to compare a number of morphological details. The result of this comparison demonstrates that certain features of one molar type indicate a conservative status, whereas other features show more progressive tendencies than those occurring in other molar types without a fixed consistency. This problem relates to the whole dentition as well as to individual teeth.

Resolving all features investigated, an insight can be obtained as to whether a certain type of molar or dentition shows more conservative features than another. A molar or a whole dentition must demonstrate many details of significance in order to ascribe it as more conservative or progressive than another.