ArticleBiology letters2020
Fracture mechanics, enamel thickness and the evolution of molar form in hominins.
Article in Biology letters, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dietary Adaptation in Paranthropus robustus Postcanine Teeth.American journal of biological anthropology · 2026Article
- Deproteinization-Induced Deterioration of the Mechanical and Tribological Behaviors of Mature Giant Panda Enamel.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- The Interrelation Among Allometry, Phylogeny, and Diet in the Molar Cervix.American journal of biological anthropology · 2026Article
- The Meaning of Mangabey Molars (And Premolars).Evolutionary anthropology · 2026Review
- Enamel Prism Angle Variation and Hard-Object Feeding in Cercopithecoids With Known Diets.American journal of biological anthropology · 2025Article
- Molar Cervical Root Cross-Sectional Morphology and Diet in Extant Catarrhines.American journal of biological anthropology · 2025Article
- Bite force production and the origin ofRoyal Society open science · 2025Article
- Article
- Similarities and differences in the dental tissue proportions of the deciduous and permanent canines of Early and Middle Pleistocene human populations.Journal of anatomy · 2022Article
- Growth and development of the third permanent molar in Paranthropus robustus from Swartkrans, South Africa.Scientific reports · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
As the tissue most directly responsible for breaking down food in the oral cavity, the form and function of enamel is obviously of evolutionary significance in humans, non-human primates and other vertebrates. Accordingly, a standard metric, relative enamel thickness (RET), has been used for many decades to provide insights into vertebrate and human palaeobiology. Relatively thick enamel has evolved many times in vertebrates including hominoids (the group to which living humans and fossil hominins belong), and this pattern is thought to provide information about taxonomy, phylogeny, functional anatomy and diet. In particular, relatively thick enamel is thought to make tooth crowns strong so that they resist fractures associated with eating mechanically resistant foods. Here, we use current models of tooth biomechanics to show that RET is at best only moderately informative of function and diet in living hominoids and fossil hominins, and at worst provides misleading information. We propose a new metric, absolute crown strength, to assess the resistance of teeth to fracture, and identify what may be a novel characteristic of tooth strength in fossil hominins.
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