Cosmetic Dentistry

The good preservation of archaeological teeth is a valuable source of information paleo-dental. One difficulty is the scarcity of sets of references to well-documented comparisons between past and present populations in Europe. The study, also in collaboration with S. Hillson authoritative in paleo-dentistry by SN Wasterlain will help fill this gap.

The authors studied tooth decay and tooth loss in the ante-mortem series of skeletons of the 19th century of Coimbra, Portugal, for which we know the identity and occupation of each subject. They analyzed 600 individuals and over 9,500 teeth. The main findings are the absence in this population of sexual variation important although the upper teeth are more affected women, the increase in caries prevalence with age, reached a preferential sectors premolars and molars and surfaces occlusal. The periodontium is not correlated to caries.

The authors mainly compare their results with those from series studies of Kenya (Manji, 1989) and China (Lian, 1989). Great similarities in terms of prevalence of affected teeth, increase with age are noted with these people. However, the ante-mortem loss are more frequent in the Portuguese series.

The authors did not use epidemiological data on the social issues. They have not been able to compare their results with existing data in Portugal, being harvested.

The results are fairly conventional in populations with reduced access to care but the size of this series is an indispensable reference for statistical studies paleo-dental future.