Intentional dental modification is a widespread practice in both ancient and modern populations. In Panama, the modern practice is restricted to the Ngäbe indigenous people inhabiting the western provinces. Several researchers have posited that Ngäbe dental modification evidences cultural transfer of African origin due to the absence of post-contact records of this practice in the region, and based on the chipping technique used to create a pointed tooth shape. In this paper, we collate bioarchaeological data from human remains recovered from pre-contact and early colonial period contexts in Panama to evaluate this hypothesis. The results of our study found no evidence for intentional dental modification among the pre-contact sample, but several instances of artificially modified incisor teeth among the early colonial sample. The latter pertained exclusively to individuals of African ancestry, and whose teeth had been chipped to points in the same manner as reported from Ngäbe communities. Isotope data revealed that one individual was a first-generation immigrant who likely originated from the African continent. Based on these results, as well as an exhaustive review of the ethnohistorical and modern ethnographic literature, the original hypothesis of a late introduction of African origin for the practice of dental shaping among the Ngäbe was upheld.

在古代和现代人群中，有意进行牙齿修饰都是一种普遍的做法。在巴拿马，现代做法仅限于居住在西部省份的Ngäbe土著人民。几位研究人员认为，由于该地区缺乏这种做法的接触后记录，并且基于用于创建尖齿形状的削片技术，Ngäbe牙齿矫正证明了非洲裔的文化转移。在本文中，我们整理了从巴拿马接触前和殖民地早期环境中回收的人类遗体的生物考古数据，以评估这一假设。我们的研究结果没有发现在接触前的样本中有意进行牙齿修饰的证据，但在早期的殖民地样本中有数例人工修饰的门牙实例。后者仅属于非洲血统的个体，其牙齿被咬碎的点与Ngäbe社区报告的方式相同。同位素数据显示，一个人是第一代移民，可能起源于非洲大陆。基于这些结果，以及对民族历史和现代民族志文献的详尽回顾，坚持了在Ngäbe中较晚引入非洲起源于牙齿成形实践的原始假设。