The Aymara of western Bolivia: III. Occlusion, pathology, and characteristics of the dentition.

With the objective of contributing to the understanding of factors influencing the characteristics of dentition, dental observations from 429 children and adult highland people of western Bolivia are described. Various age, sex, ethnic, and village differences are observed in malocclusion, dental caries, periodontal disease, dental morphology, and anomalies. The findings revealed a population with relatively good occlusion, low frequency of dental pathology, and dental characteristics in part consistent with those of other similar Amerindian populations.