Sex and ancestry patterning of residual correlations in human dental development: Cooperative genetic interaction and phenotypic plasticity

ObjectivesMost research in human dental age estimation has focused on point estimates of age, and most research on dental development theories has focused on morphology or eruption. Correlations between developing teeth using ordinal staging have received less attention. The effect of demographic variables on these correlations is unknown. I tested the effect of reference sample demographic variables on the residual correlation matrix using the lens of cooperative genetic interaction (CGI).Materials and MethodsThe sample consisted of Moorrees et al., Journal of Dental Research, 1963, 42, 1490-1502, scores of left mandibular permanent teeth from panoramic radiographs of 880 London children 3-22.99 years of age stratified by year of age, sex, and Bangladeshi or European ancestry. A multivariate cumulative probit model was fit to each sex/ancestry group (n = 220), each sex or ancestry (n = 440), and all individuals (n = 880). Residual correlation matrices from nine reference sample configurations were compared using Bartlett's tests of between-sample difference matrices against the identity matrix, hierarchical cluster analysis, and dendrogram cophenetic correlations.ResultsBartlett's test results were inconclusive. Cluster analysis showed clustering by tooth class, position within class, and developmental timing. Clustering patterns and dendrogram correlations showed similarity by sex but not ancestry.DiscussionExpectations of CGI were supported for developmental staging. This supports using CGI as a model for explaining patterns of variation within the dentition. Sex was found to produce consistent patterns of dental correlations, whereas ancestry did not. Clustering by timing of development supports phenotypic plasticity in the dentition and suggests shared environment over genetic ancestry to explain population differences. Dental developmental correlations follow expectations of Cooperative Genetic Interaction theory. Patterning by timing of development supports phenotypic plasticity. Correlation patterns vary by sex but not ancestry: environment is more important than ancestry.