Santiago de Compostela, 23 November 2021. The National Research Centre on Human Evolution (CENIEH) organises an annual campaign to collect children’s baby teeth for scientific purposes ranging from the study of human evolution to forensic and dental analyses.
The campaign, which has run uninterruptedly since 2014, is part of the “Ratoncito Pérez Collection” project, an initiative of the Dental Anthropology group of the National Research Centre on Human Evolution (CENIEH) and its Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit. The collection already includes more than 3,000 teeth.
In Galicia, the Spanish National Research Council, through its Scientific Culture Unit (Institutional Delegation), is taking part in the campaign. As in the 2019 edition, the collection will take place on Saturday 27 November at CULTURGAL (Pontevedra), with the help of Cornelio Filiberto (Carlos Godoy), Ratoncito Pérez’s assistant in Galicia. Staff from the CSIC UCC in Galicia will be in the Children’s Area that day from 11:30 to 13:30 collecting baby teeth from families who wish to join the initiative. All participants will receive a diploma and a gift for taking part. Before handing over the teeth, the children’s parents or legal guardians must complete a questionnaire with various data and sign a consent form explaining how the teeth will be used.
One of the objectives of this initiative is that scientists from anywhere in the world and from different fields of science, such as archaeology, forensic anthropology, oral and dental medicine or palaeoanthropology, can access in person or virtually the data from this large collection of teeth from children born during the 21st century for their own studies.
CSIC in Galicia is the only Galician institution participating in this campaign to collect dental pieces, although CENIEH hopes to expand its reach to other communities and to take it to other countries such as Argentina and Australia.