A Healthier Smile in the Past? Dental Caries and Diet in Early Neolithic Farming Communities from Central Germany.
Nutrients
; 14(9)2022 Apr 27.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35565796
ABSTRACT
Dental health is closely linked to an individual's health and diet. This bioarcheological study presents dental caries and stable isotope data obtained from prehistoric individuals (n = 101) from three Early Neolithic sites (c. 5500-4800 BCE) in central Germany. Dental caries and ante-mortem tooth loss (AMTL) were recorded and related to life history traits such as biological sex and age at death. Further, we correlate evidence on caries to carbon and nitrogen isotope data obtained from 83 individuals to assess the relationship between diet and caries. In 68.3% of the adults, carious lesions were present, with 10.3% of teeth affected. If AMTL is considered, the values increase by about 3%. The prevalence of subadults (18.4%) was significantly lower, with 1.8% carious teeth. The number of carious teeth correlated significantly with age but not sex. The isotopic data indicated an omnivorous terrestrial diet composed of domestic plants and animal derived protein but did not correlate with the prevalence of carious lesions. The combined evidence from caries and isotope analysis suggests a prevalence of starchy foods such as cereals in the diet of these early farmers, which aligns well with observations from other Early Neolithic sites but contrasts to Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age populations in Germany.
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Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Cárie Dentária
Tipo de estudo:
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article