Antemortem tooth loss as a biomarker of poverty: Dental evidence of "weathering" in a contemporary U.S. skeletal sample.

In societies where resources are unequally distributed, structural inequities can be physically over lifetimes. Lived experiences including racism, sexism, classism, and poverty can lead to chronic stress that prematurely ages body systems. This study tests the hypothesis that members of structurally vulnerable groups will exhibit premature aging in the form of antemortem tooth loss (AMTL).