Modification of clinical dental impression methods to obtain dental traits from living and whole non-mammalian vertebrates

Abstract

AbstractDental impressions are routinely in human and veterinary clinical settings to capture dental characteristics three dimensionally for the evaluation of pathology, morphology, eruption patterns, and mastication function. While these aspects of dentition are of great interest to evolutionary biologists, ecologists, and biomechanics researchers, impressions have rarely been used in studies of non-mammalian vertebrates (e.g., fishes) and/or for non-medical research. Studies of animal dentition usually require euthanasia and specimen dissection, low-resolution CT scans and impressions or extractions of individual teeth for study. These practices prevent invivo longitudinal studies that factors growth and other chronological changes. For example, it is possible to infer feeding ecology by scanning or observing the surface of teeth and quantifying micrometer-scale topographical abrasions caused by feeding behavior. It is also possible to track tooth replacement or changes in occlusion through time. Here, we describe a method for dental impression that can preserve the life of the vertebrate specimen, be used non-destructively with museum specimens, and has a wide range of applications in organismal research. We demonstrate this method using living specimens ofPolypterus senegalus, a non-teleost fish (Actinopterygii), in a laboratory setting.