Two-generation confirmation of crown-size body-size relationships in human beings.

Although the existence of a relationship between crown size and body size has previously been questioned 'S. M. GARN, and A. B. LEWIS, Amer Anthrop 60:894-880, 1958; H. A. BAILIT and J. S. FRIEDLAENDER, Amer Anthrop 68:665672, 1966), recent studies show that there are systematic, positive, but low-order, correlations between crown size and various body dimensions (R. FILIPSSON and L. GOLDSON, Acta Odont Scand 21:359-365, 1963; S. M. GARN ET AL, Arch Oral Biol 13:129. 1968). The question then arises as to whether such relationships are purely developmental, operating only within individuals, or whether they persist over the generations and have a genetic basis. Correlating the standard height of 137 parents (66 fathers and 71 mothers) with crown sizes of 117 of their offspring (60 sons and 57 daughters), it is clear that taller parents do have children with systematically larger mesiodistal and buccolingual dental crown dimensions. This was true for all classes of teeth