Natal and Neonatal Teeth Among the Tlinget Indians

¹ University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology, Chicago, Illinois

A study of the records of 90 births during a 2-year period revealed that eight children had natal or neonatal teeth. This incidence of one in every 11.25 births is the highest reported in the literature. Subsequent study of some of these children, as well as of others that had been previously noted to have this condition, revealed that another member of the family had the same anomaly at birth in 67 percent of the instances. Thus, a familial tendency of this trait was noted.