Use of high resolution computed tomography to diagnose ante-mortem dental root fractures in archaeological samples.

Dental root fractures are rarely documented in past human populations, but when they are observed, diagnosing ante-mortem events as causal factors can be difficult due to postmortem alteration. Can high resolution X-ray computed tomography (CT) improve our ability to diagnose if a dental fracture was caused ante- or post-mortem? To test this, a case study of two individuals with previously diagnosed dental root fractures were re-examined with high resolution CT to confirm or refute the original diagnoses. For individual 4170, use of high resolution CT supported the original diagnosis of an ante-mortem root fracture on the right mandibular central incisor that was made based on planar X-ray.

Dental wear quantity and direction in Chalcolithic and Medieval populations from southwest France.

The aim of this study was to verify if dental wear changed due to the dietary shift between the Chalcolithic and Middle Ages from relatively hard and fibrous foods to soft cooked cereals. This was accomplished by comparing dental wear quantity and direction between people from two archaeological sites, Les Treilles during the Chalcolithic (mixed subsistence farmers) and Marsan from the Middle Ages (agriculturalists) in southwest France. The materials studied include 65 mandibles, 32 from Les Treilles and 33 from Marsan; 549 teeth were studied.

A History of Caries in the Middle Ages: Characteristics and Cultural Profiles.

In paleopathology, since the mid-1960s, caries and its characteristics have been studied on medieval teeth by many different teams in Europe, particularly in relation to the dietary and cultural habits of the populations concerned. The aims of this article are to propose a global study of caries within European medieval populations through various parameters such as prevalence, distribution, location, gender, and diet.