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

Research and Interviews!

Heya folks,

Here are some pictogram updates of one of my teeth research projects! Not a short amount of time was spent mounting and sawing this suspected mandibular first molar for your (or my professor's) viewing pleasure. This was actually a really awesome side-project and was done for more than one reason! A detailed procedure will follow...

In the meantime, this month sees travel to LA, Philly, and short trips around Boston for my first batch of dental school interviews! Wish me luck :)

Cheers,

E

(click to enlarge!)

A timely capture

Complete visualization of prisms and the like!

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

Human Evolutionary Biology 1421: Teeth

As mentioned previously, at the 2011 Boston Pre-Dental Conference hosted by Harvard's very own Pre-Dental Society (which was a tremendous success by the way, see my previous post!), there were a number of fantastic speakers and presenters. One of whom, Dr. Tanya Smith, Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, gave a truly fascinating presentation not only on her research on dental development and 3D fossil tooth structure, but also on her course to be offered next Fall semester!

Her course is aptly named Human Evolutionary Biology 1421: Teeth. Although the course name may sound ridiculously boring and sleep-inducing to some of you (my friend Judith says this sounds potentially worse than Plant Biology), to the few of us enlightened folk out there - isn't this really exciting? Seriously though ...

Anyways, the last time the course was offered, which was in Fall of 2009, the class received near perfect ratings (4.8 out of 5 on the Harvard Q Guide). Plus, the research seminar-type class is capped at 6 students, and you spearhead your own independent research project. That's right, SIX students! I guess there is life after those humongous general chemistry and organic chemistry lectures.

Here's the course description from the website:

"Teeth are one of the best preserved and most commonly-recovered elements in fossil assemblages. This seminar will focus on ways in which dental remains may inform studies of primate growth and development, ecology, and social structure. Students will read and discuss current scientific literature, engage in histological studies in the Dental Hard Tissue Laboratory, and conduct pilot research projects."

So that probably sent the rest of you packing. BUT to me and a couple of my friends this is amazing!

Another friend says that there might as well be a course titled Human Evolutionary Biology 4321: Eyeballs for people interested in optometry school. What's next, an English department? Ahhh let's pretend she didn't say that ...

See you at shopping week!

This hygiene is acceptable ... if you've been dead for a few centuries.

Eric