"Orthograde entrance technique" to recover DNA from ancient teeth preserving the physical structure

Milling methods utilized by molecular researchers destruct the morphological structure of ancient teeth, crucial in anthropological evaluation. This causes researchers to be reluctant to try DNA analyses. Retrograde, reverse root canal technique, which is from root apex to the tooth crown, provides both a dentine rich sample and a procedure that overcomes this problem. However, this technique has some disadvantages due to the relatively fragile, permeable and weak nature of the tooth root. On the other hand, "orthograde entrance technique", straight from tooth crown to the root apex, both preserves the morphological structure and deals with the problems related to the root structure by providing an entrance from the enamel surface. Moreover comparable amplification results to prior studies in the literature were also achieved. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.