Incisor crown bending strength correlates with diet and incisor curvature in anthropoid primates

This study uses beam theory to calculate the mesiodistal and labiolingual bending strengths of the maxillary and mandibular incisors of hominoid and platyrrhine taxa with differing diets and variable degrees of incisal curvature. Results indicate that bending strength correlates with incisal curvature and that frugivores have elevated incisor bending resistance relative to folivores. Maxillary central incisor bending strengths further discriminate platyrrhine and hominoid hard‐ and soft‐object frugivores suggesting this crown is subjected to elevated occlusal loading relative to other incisors. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that incisor crown curvature functions to increase incisor crown resistance to bending forces but does not preclude the possibility that incisor bending strength is a composite function of multiple dentognathic variables including, but not limited to, incisor crown curvature. Anat Rec, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Source: The Anatomical Record Part B: The New Anatomist - August 23, 2014 Category: Anatomy Authors: Andrew S. Deane Tags: Full Length Article Source Type: research