Evolution of human dentition -A review

The term evolution denotes a gradual and continuous process of change over long period of time. In fact, studies have shown that from about 35,000 years ago until 10,000 years ago, tooth size has decreased on average by about one percent every 2000 years¹. From then until the present the rate has doubled to a one percent decrease every 1000 years (Recent Human Dentition Evolution). Various evolutionary, environmental, and cultural factors are responsible for this change. Considerable evidence exists that shows that the importance of large teeth and jaws was reduced as humans developed over the last 50,000 years. While this reduction in importance alone may not explain why the human dentition actually reduced in size, it does make it more likely that the dentition would reduce if doing so would help relieve other evolutionary pressures, which will be explained later¹.