CENIEH releases Spain’s largest open primary-teeth dataset

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 24. December 2025

save

BURGOS, Spain: The Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana in Burgos in Spain has released a new open access dataset comprising 712 measurements of primary teeth from 52 Spanish children in the Ratón Pérez Collection. Developed through a citizen science initiative, this resource now places Spain among the countries with the most extensive and rigorously documented reference collections for the study of modern childhood dentition.

Comparative diameters of primary teeth. (Image: Dr Marina Martínez de Pinillos)

The project, led by Dr Marina Martínez de Pinillos together with Chitina Moreno-Torres and Dr Leslea J. Hlusko, is the first open reference collection to provide raw dental measurements of modern primary dentition donated by individuals who supplied detailed biographical information under strict ethical criteria.

The dataset includes mesiodistal and buccolingual crown dimensions, as well as crown indices and crown areas of primary incisors, canines and molars. “All measurements were taken following standardised odontometric protocols, ensuring data accuracy and comparability with both modern and fossil samples,” Dr de Pinillos explained in a press release.

Ratón Pérez Collection as a reference for primary dentition

Created in 2014, the Ratón Pérez Collection currently houses more than 5,000 naturally shed primary teeth, donated mainly by families from Burgos. The collection has been approved by the Bioethics Committee of the University of Burgos and has been fully anonymised.

The collection is particularly valuable because each tooth is associated with contextual information, including the donor’s age, sex, diet, gestational period and geographical origin. “The combination of scope and high-quality documentation makes it an indispensable reference for research in anthropology, human evolution, paediatric dentistry, forensic sciences, bioarchaeology and biomedicine, providing a robust and up-to-date comparative framework for studies on child populations,” Dr de Pinillos commented.

Relevance for dentistry and related disciplines

Tooth collection sites in Spain. (Image: Dr Marina Martínez de Pinillos)

For anthropologists and researchers in human evolution, the dataset offers an essential comparative framework for assessing fossil teeth and investigating evolutionary patterns within the genus Homo. In paediatric dentistry, it can help establish current standards for tooth size in children, support the assessment of dental development and morphology and assist in detecting potential developmental anomalies in the primary dentition.

In forensic sciences, the resource provides reference values that can improve age estimation and make the identification of subadult individuals based on dental remains easier. In bioarchaeology and biomedicine, it delivers a robust, ethically managed comparative framework for the analysis of past and present populations, supporting studies on growth, health and environmental influences reflected in primary teeth.

The data article, titled “Dataset of tooth size measurements from the deciduous dentitions of 52 Spanish children. A reference collection for science”, was published online on 29 November 2025 in Data in Brief, before inclusion in an issue.