The good, the bad, and the stunning!

The good: It's mid-December and final exams are officially over here in Cambridge (for me at least ... as the rest of you - hang in there!). Also, I've been accepted to a couple of awesome dental schools! :) If you know me well, we probably already celebrated HARD together! That being said, it's still too early for me to decide whether I want to stay in the area or head back to Californiaaa.

The bad: It's mid-December and it is COLD! Boston's schizophrenic weather never ceases to amaze, me neither do the New England winters. Hmm maybe I should go back to the West Coast for dental school ...

The STUNNING: I've finished my first paper on teeth!

I learned a whole lot from my research ... it turns out that there is considerable (relative) dental morphological variation among human populations. Carabelli's cusp, for example, is one of the most well-known distinguishing morphological traits, and is most commonly found in people of European descent. Dental morphological variation has been researched before, but my specific focus was on racial admixture and the phenotype of specific traits

Things like tooth studs and grillz don't count ... at least not for this project.

I'll post the abstract soon - and stay warm!

E

New Teeth Research Project

Today marks the day that I began my first dental-related research project! Although I concentrate in Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB), I am currently working in the Dental Hard Tissue Lab in the Human Evolutionary Biology (HEB) department with Dr. Tanya Smith.

Live imaging

To hone my skills before jumping into my yet-to-be-determined project, my preliminary goal is to identify a tooth sample that was extracted by a dentist. There are two roots, one mesial and one distal, with the mesial one larger and more strongly grooved. Interestingly, there also appear to be 6 cusps with a maintained talonid basin, in addition to a suspected carious lesion which is perhaps why the tooth was extracted in the first place. Yet my best guess so far is that this is a lower first molar (M1) which is typically rare to extract unless there is a specific orthodontic/occlusal reason to do so. Further, the end of the roots suggest that the lower M1 is in fact from a juvenile. The typical dentist might have filled the carious lesion - aka cavity - but in this case the tooth was extracted ... interesting! An aggressive dentist indeed!

Suspected lower M1 from a juvenile

Today I also made a mold of the tooth, took some key measurements (mesial-distal and buccal-lingual), and also took some cool photographs (see below)! Research details will continue as I work on my technique. Next step will be a Micro-CT scanner to completely visualize the tooth!

Suspected carious lesion, likely reason for extraction

Live imaging focusing on the carious lesion

Stay tuned!

E