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ASUDAS

Definition

Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System: a standardised plaque-based scoring system for 29 dental morphological traits developed by Christy Turner II and colleagues. Scores run from 0 (absent) to 5, 6, or 7 depending on the trait, defined by physical reference plaques (and later digital versions) to ensure inter-analyst consistency.

Related terms

Carabelli Trait
An accessory cusp or groove on the mesiolingual surface of the maxillary first molar (and sometimes the second molar). It ranges from...
Dental Morphological Trait
A discrete or quasi-continuous feature of tooth shape whose presence and expression grade are largely heritable. Examples include incisor shovelling, Carabelli trait,...
Phenice-Style Dichotomy
A simplification used in some research that collapses ASUDAS continuous scores into present/absent dichotomies for frequency comparison. Useful for older literature but...
Population Affinity
The preferred modern forensic-anthropological term for the relationship between an unidentified individual's skeletal morphology and a modern reference population. Replaces the older...
Sinodont Vs. Sundadont
Turner's two-pattern model of dental morphology variation in Asia and the Pacific. Sinodonts (northern Asian, East Asian, Indigenous American) have high frequencies...

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