Shovel-shaped incisors

Uncommon card · No. 174651

Shovel-shaped incisors (or, more simply, shovel incisors) are incisors whose lingual surfaces are scooped as a consequence of lingual marginal ridges, crown curvature, or basal tubercles, either alone or in combination. Shovel-shaped incisors are significantly common in Indigenous Americans from North, Central, and South America. They are also common in East Asians and Central Asians, Inuit, and Aleut peoples of Northeast Asia and North America (including but not limited to Inuit in eastern Alaska, Arctic Canada, and Greenland). In certain European and African groups, shovel-shaped upper incisors are uncommon or not present. There is a spectrum of the degree of shoveled-ness, ranging on a scale from 0 to 7, from spatulate incisors to shoveled incisors. When present, shovel-shaped incisors can indicate correlation among populations and are considered to be one of the non-metrical traits in osteology. It is theorized that positive selection for shovel-shaped incisors over spatulate incisors...

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