FUNCTIONAL OCCLUSION IN TRIBOSPHENIC MOLARS

ATTEMPTS have been made to deduce mandibular movements in primitive mammals from dried skulls and particularly the morphology and wear on the teeth1,2. The work reported here shows that this is not possible. Until mandibular movements are precisely determined for appropriate living mammals, the interpretation of the structure and evaluation of the function of mammalian teeth is extremely difficult. Studies of living mammals are particularly relevant at present because the evolution of pre-Tertiary mammals can now be explained with greater confidence using the recently discovered early mammalian material from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. © 1969 Nature Publishing Group.