Australopithecus africanus teeth with lesions. Ian Towle.

Ian Towle of John Moores University and colleagues published an interesting paper in the International Journal of Paleopathology that illuminates early hominins had similar dental issues as we do now. Dental erosion from brushing too vigorously as well as fizzy drinks, fruit juice, wine, and other acidic food and drink can leave shallow, shiny, lesions... Continue Reading →

March 3, 2018

The Krapina Neanderthals Used Toothpicks

Three views of the four articulated teeth making up KDP 20. a. occlusal view showing lingually placedmesial interproximal wear facet on P4 (arrow) and buccal wear on M3; b. lingual view showing a mesiallyplaced interproximal wear facet on P4 (arrow), chips from lingual faces of all teeth and rotated, partiallyimpacted M3; c. buccal view showing rotated buccal face of M3 (arrow) and hypercementosis on its root. Credit: David Frayer, University of Kansas

Bulletin of the International Association for Paleodontology recently published discovery of multiple toothpick grooves on 130,000 year old Krapina Neanderthal teeth. David Frayer, professor emeritus of Anthropology at University of Kansas, who published the 2015 PLoS ONE study about a set of eagle talons jewelry is one of the study authors. The teeth and all the... Continue Reading →

July 1, 2017

Why Do Women Have More Cavities?

Razib has chimed in on the latest piece of research to come from John Lukacs, "Fertility and Agriculture Accentuate Sex Differences in Dental Caries Rates," published in Current Anthropology. Throughout time, women have had more cavities on average than men. I've explained how cavities are formed in a previous post. Diet change and sexual division... Continue Reading →

October 15, 2008

A Faster Rate of Dental Development in the Scladina Neandertal

I have been really anticipating the following study. The first press releases came out in March and in October, I introduced it here. It seems like the paper is finally ready to be published, but we still gotta wait until PNAS puts it up on their early edition section. It should be soon but I... Continue Reading →

December 4, 2007

Synchrotron Microtomography Analysis of Human vs. Neanderthal Tooth Development

In an upcoming publication in the Journal of Human Evolution will be an interesting study that should get all y'all dental anthropology buffs excited. It comes from Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The study will use synchrotron microtomography, a form of visualization that was developed bypaleontologist Paul Tafforeau.... Continue Reading →

October 13, 2007

Dental Hygeine among Neandertals some 60,000 years ago

From Christine Kenneally and John Hawks comes this cool finding of two Neandertal molars from around 63,400 years old that show our relatives may have been dental hygiene fans, The teeth have "grooves formed by the passage of a pointed object, which confirms the use of a small stick for cleaning the mouth," Paleontology Professor... Continue Reading →

September 12, 2007