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Linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) is a condition marked by localized reductions in enamel thickness, resulting from growth disruptions during dental development. We use quantitative criteria to characterize the depth of LEH defects and “normal” perikymata in great apes. We test the hypothesis that mountain gorillas have shallow defects compared to other taxa, which may have led to their underestimation in previous studies.

Previous attempts to characterize LEH morphology quantitatively have been limited in sample size and scope. We generated digital elevation models using optical profilometry (Sensofar PLu Neox) and extracted 2D coordinates using ImageJ to quantify depths in canines from three great ape genera (N = 75 perikymata; 255 defects).

All defect depths fall outside the distribution of perikymata depths. Mountain gorilla defects are significantly shallower …