Molar size is based on a model, called the inhibitory cascade, which tells how the size of a tooth gets affected by the tooth next to it. By considering this factor, researchers studying prehistoric human teeth have discovered that human evolution wasn’t as complex as previously thought.

The debate between researchers and doubters on evolution of our third molars has reached a crescendo many times in the past. Now, a study by evolutionary biologist Alistair Evans of Monash University in Australia and other researchers has been offering explanation which suggests evolution of human teeth is simple.

For the study, the researchers examined the teeth of humans and fossil hominins. “Teeth can tell us a lot about the lives of our ancestors, and how they evolved over the last 7 million years. What makes modern humans different from our fossil relatives”, said evolutionary biologist Evans in a statement.

The research team has analyzed the prehistoric teeth remains for many years to discover more information on our evolutionary ancestors, said Evan. Shrinking of third molars, also known as wisdom teeth, can be elucidated with developmental mechanisms that humans share with many mammals, as per the evolutionary biologist.

The new study suggested that wisdom teeth follow the inhibitory cascade rule, which means they get affected by size of their next tooth’s size. The study’s findings confirmed that evolution of human teeth is much simpler than it was thought earlier, said Evans.

The teeth evolution may help in predating evolution of humans. It can tell many things about the lives of our ancestors, and how they evolved in the last seven million years, as per the researchers. Now, it may be easy to predict teeth size of human fossils that researchers have found.