Morphological and anthropological aspects of human triangular deciduous lower first molar teeth

The crown and root morphology, and bilateral occurrence of human deciduous lower first molars that exhibited a triangular occlusal outline, taken from excavated samples of Japanese, Jomonese and Iraqi origin, were investigated. The crowns of triangular teeth had smaller mesiodistal and larger buccolingual diameters than normally shaped deciduous lower first molars. An elongated buccolingual diameter was derived from the buccal projection of the distobuccal cusp and lingual projection of the portion between the metaconid and distolingual cusp. In this analysis, all triangular deciduous lower first molars in which root morphology could be observed were accompanied by additional distolingual roots. Correlation between the right- and left-hand sides of this trait was high.