Abstract
Three-dimensional measurement of the occlusal table of the upper first maxillary molar in three racial populations in South Africa was carried out with the use of moire contourography. Three populations were San Bushman, Central Sotho Bantu (Negroid) and Asiatic Indian (Caucasian). Their dental casts had been collected in 1968-1969 in Botswana and Lenasia by Nuffield Foundation and are now housed in Arizona State University. A moire photograph of the occlusal table in which contour lines were projected was obtained from each molar, and the height of cuspal tips and the intercuspal distance were measured. Cusps were highest in Asiatic Indian, intermediate in Bantu and lowest in Bushman. However, Bantu showed larger intercuspal distances than Indian, while Bushman had the smallest value of the distance. The results were compared with those of other racial populations previously investigated, then it was found that arrangement of four cusps in these samples were different from Mongoloid samples and that the proportion between cusp height and intercuspal distance in Asiatic Indian was close to another Caucasian, European white.
