부산대학교 도서관

This article concerns with secular changes of tooth to denture base discrepancy during Japanese prehistoric and historic ages, by means of morphological analysis of Japanese skeletal remains as well as living people.Materials used were 122 skulls from the later Jomon, Kofun, Kamakura, Muromachi and Yedo eras. Two hundred and ninety living Japanese were also investigated. The frequency of discrepancy was surveyed by inspections of occlusion, and the amount of discrepancy in individuals was calculated from measurements of tooth size, dental arch length, and forward inclination of the mandibular incisors.The results were as follows; 1, both frequency and amount of discrepancy have increased from the later Jomon to the modern ages, accompanied by several fluctuations. 2, increase of discrepancy seemed to be brought about by evolutionary changes of teeth and jaw bones independently of each other, and, 3. the major element which contributed to the increase was reduction of jaw bone size. Finally, the authors suggested that further studies on the relations of discrepancy to foods and eating behavior and also to dental diseases are required to analyse this problem in more detail.