Short and broad dental arch in Papua New Guinea Highlanders

Dental arch sizes and shapes of Papua New Guinea (PNG) Highlanders (Wabag, Enga Province, 26 males and 26 females) were measured using photographs of dental casts and compared with those of five populations in the Pacific region (Fiji, Samoa, Kiribati, Australia, Japan). The dental arch breadths of the Wabag males and females were the largest among the six groups. The Wabag males had the shortest lengths and the Wabag females were in the middle range among the six groups. As a result, the dental arches of the Wabag people proved to be short and broad. Principal component analyses based on arch measurements showed that the Wabag people were close to Fijians suggesting that these two Melanesian populations had similar dental arch forms.