Our teeth say a lot about us – what with them being on display when we share a laugh among friends for example – and if your pearly whites possess a particular characteristic, then you may have a gene coming from the Neanderthals.
A study out this week in the Current Biology journal, authored by more than 20 researchers around the world (including those from the Open University and University College London), found that a genetic variant impacting the thickness of our incisors was only found in study participants of European descent.
Data from 882 Columbian volunteers of mixed European, Native American and African ancestry was used in the research, with dental measurements compared with their genetic information in a ‘genome-wide association study’.
The academics identified 18 regions of the genome which influence the size and shape of different types of teeth, of which only one had previously been linked to tooth dimensions.
And one of these newer associations pertains to the thinner incisors (the eight front teeth), found on a gene believed to have been inherited from Neanderthals interbreeding with ancient humans.
But don’t worry, the researchers have stressed that having the slightly thinner incisors is “not a bad thing”.
Dr Kaustubh Adhikari, of UCL, told the Daily Mail: “The ‘thickness’ of the incisors we are talking about is the overall dimension of the incisor from front to back, not the thickness of the enamel layer.
“Our study volunteers didn’t have hyper-thin teeth which might’ve been more crack-prone or sensitive.”
And the academics are hopeful the data they unearthed could have medical uses “if people with particular dental problems could undergo genetic tests to help in diagnosis, or if some dental anomalies could be treated one day with gene therapies” – according to Dr Qing Li of China’s Fudan University.
Professor Andrés Ruiz-Linares, an academic linked to UCL, Fudan University and France’s Aix-Marseille University, added: “Our findings did not shed light on whether the genes that identify tooth shape were selected in evolution due to particular advantages to dental health, so it’s possible that the genes may have been selected due to the influences they have in other areas, with tooth shape differences resulting as a side effect.”
It’s just one study which has tied modern human biology to that of earlier humans, with scientists previously suggesting we can blame A wise man having sex with Neanderthals for our allergies.
And more recently, a fossil discovery has suggested Neanderthals were capable of having abstract thoughts and ideas prior to human interaction.
Yeah, science!
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