Odontometrics

[3] Linking to the Past by Kenneth L. Feder states that "Dental development...provides a valuable gauge of the level of physical maturity and age.

The “fairly consistent” rate at which deciduous and permanent teeth appear is relevant because it allows an expert to determine the age of the human.

Because teeth are “made from the most enduring mineralized tissues in the human body”, they are resistant to many types of destruction, including physical, thermal, mechanical and chemical.

[5] Several studies have established that on average males have larger teeth than females, although the differences are small and not always statistically significant.

[9][10] Recent research looking at the dental tissues within the tooth crown indicate that male teeth have significantly greater quantities of dentine than females, both absolutely and proportionally, and such differences could be useful in estimating sex.

Teeth exhibit variables with a strong hereditary component that are useful in assessing population relationships and evolutionary dynamics.

The measurement and examination of teeth can also exhibit incidental and intentional modifications which reflect the patterns of different cultural behaviors.

However, examinations of fossil evidence have shown a decrease in the size of the masticatory system that can be mostly attributed to the changes in the dietary habits of the species.

Canine teeth are believed to be small in the earliest hominins and the reduction of size continues during the early period.

Some members of this species possessed a gap called a retromolar space, behind the wisdom teeth at the back of the jaw.

[14] Odontometrics play an important role in the determination of sex in young individuals when secondary sexual characteristics have not yet developed.

Man-made disasters can be either intentional or unintentional and include transportation accidents, chemical spills and explosions.