Abstract

PASCHETTA, Carolina  and  GONZALEZ-JOSE, Rolando. Estimaciones de fuerza de mordida y su relación con las características de la dieta. Rev Arg Antrop Biol [online]. 2014, vol.16, n.1, pp.39-50. ISSN 1514-7991.

The bite force is a biomechanical parameter that indicates the amount of force applied during the mastication of a type of food. In this paper, we compared the bite force of six modern human populations which differ in the diets characteristics. Morphological points were digitized on skull base photographs, determining the shape of the masticatory muscles and allowing estimates of load and resistance arms in order to measure the bite force. The results indicate differences in the bite force between groups with a hard diet and those with a soft diet as regards the cutting bite (central incisors), but not the crushing one (bilateral bite). Also, the greatest differences are due to population differences in the first place, followed by the type of diet (hard or soft ones) and, finally, the difference between sexes. These differences are also more evident in the cutting bite than in the crushing one. Finally, some distinctions between males and females would indicate that the division of work entailed differences in food consumption.

Keywords : Mastication; Geometric morphometrics; Hardness of food.

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