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Dental anthropology is a branch of bioarcheology which helps in analyzing the historical questions that couldn't be explained due to lack of historical sources. Analyzing dental samples from medieval and contemporary time using the Arizona State University Dental Anthropological System shows changes in patterns of nutrition and disease over many generations of a society and also reconstructs human migration and tracks population growth or decline. Purpose: the intention of this examination was to establish the differences between archaeological and recent population in morphological features of maxillar and mandibular molars. Materials and methods: the study included 200 molars, 89 of them were of archeological origin whereas 111 were from recent population. Features analyzed on maxillary molars were: metaconus (distobuccal cusp), metaconulus (distal cusp), hypoconus (distolingual cusp) and Carabelli's trait. However, characteristics revised on mandibular molars were: anterior fovea (precuspidal fossa), groove pattern, middle trigonid crest, distal trigonid crest, deflecting wrinkle, molar cusp number, hypoconulid (cusp 5), entoconulicid (cusp 6) and metaconulid (cusp 7). Results: only hypoconus, a distopalatinal cusp of upper molars has shown difference in statistical comparison of contemporary and population of the Middle Ages. It appears more often in the recent population. Conclusion: the similarities between the two samples may be indicative of similar ancestral background of these populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays there are many methods available for dental age estimation: morphological, radiological, biochemical. Some methods require sample sectioning while other non-destructive methods are more appropriate for use in paleodontology. Children's dental age assessment is based on phases in growth and development of the deciduous and permanent dentition, while age assessment in the adult dentition is based upon changes in the structure of hard dental tissue caused by aging. Dental age calculating software enables automated age calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimation of sex is one of the most important procedures in the identification of an unknown person. Teeth are a potential source of information in that process. Estimation of sex in paleodontology is based on two approaches: visual inspection and statistical analysis. Many techniques have been developed within these two approaches. Forensic dentistry and paleodontology are two disciplines that share common observation platforms and methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to find a possible link between Neolithic population of Eastern Europe and Western Siberia forest-sreppe zone using dental non-metric traits. Dental characteristics of four European (4 - the end of 3 millennium B.C., 79 individuals) and six Siberian samples (7 - 4 millennium B.C., 179 individuals) was compared, using different kinds of statistics. In total, more than 40 traits were described using ASUDAS and the Russian system of dental analysis. The first result of the analysis demonstrates closer affinities of European samples (Sakhtysh-2, Karavaikha, Fomino burial grounds) with early Siberian groups of C14 7-6 millennium B.C. (Sopka-2, Protoka burials) than with chronologically more closer populations (as Ust'-Isha, Itkul'). Shoveling of upper central incisors is absent in these samples, hypocone reduction is low and frequencies of distal trigonid crest and six-cusped lower first molars are similar among the European and early Siberian series. The differences between these groups are in frequencies of the Carabelli trait of the upper first molars and deflecting wrinkle of lower first molars. The second result of this research is that in the Neolithic population of Western Siberia we can see two components, morphologically differ from each other. One of them is dentally closer to the population of the western part of Eurasia (Sopka-2, Protoka) and the second one is more similar with eastern groups (pooled group from Vengerovo-2, Korchugan, Omskaya stoyanka burials; series from Ust'-Isha and Itkul' burial grounds). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to analyze the symmetry of mental foramen due to its size and location. The aim is to obtain data on the size and position of the foramen on skeletal Croatian population and to determine whether there are differences between the left and right side of the jaw or between men and women. The study was conducted on digital photographs of skeletal remains of 54 adult (27 women and 27 men) mandibles recorded in standard lateral projection. Position of mental foramen is defined by the following average values: distance from mental foramen to the alveolar ridge of the mandible 12.33 mm, to the lower edge of mandible 11.03 mm, to mental protuber 11.8 mm, to the angle of the mandible 57.26 mm. Average values for mesiodistal diameters were 2.29 mm, craniocaudal diameter 1.78 mm and scope of mental foramen 5.94 mm. The study did not show any statistically significant difference between the left and right side of the position and dimensions of mental foramen. There is a statistically significant difference between men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconstruction of ancient people's lives can be accomplished by studying their dental remains. They present a valuable source of information about the type of food people ate, illnesses they suffered, and social stratification within a community. Analysed dental remains refer to the period between the 3rd and the 5th century. Romans lived in Cibale, current Vinkovci. The purpose of this study was to collect detailed dental information about Romans who lived in Vinkovci and to evaluate the pathology which included presence of dental caries, antemortem tooth loss and surface wear. Sex determinations were made according to cranial morphology. Age determinations were based on eruption status in children and tooth wear patterns in adults. The analysed sample was well preserved and consisted of the dental remains of 100 individuals with total of 2728 teeth. The prevalence of carious teeth was 4.4%. The prevalence of antemortem tooth loss was 3.9%. Most of the examined teeth showed moderate amount of surface wear. According to recorded pathological changes on jaws, it can be concluded that the ancient inhabitants from Vinkovci were mainly agriculturists with diet based on cereals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Kupietzky and Rozenfarb (1993) the enamel pearl anomaly was first described in 1824 by Linder and Linder. Enamel which is normally restricted to the anatomic crowns of human teeth may be found ectopically on the root, either as cervical enamel projections or enamel pearls (Risnes et al., 2000). Enamel pearl is defined as an ectopic globule of enamel that is firmly attached to the tooth root (Darwazeh and Hamasha, 2000). These developmental aberrations in tooth morphology may predispose the affected area to plaque accumulation and consequently cause periodontal breakdown. Maxillary 2nd and 3rd molars are more commonly involved than the first molars (Saini et al., 2008). The purpose of this poster is to present five archeological cases of enamel pearl anomaly in an archaeological sample from Kranj - Slovenia. The skeleton remains correspond to three males between 30 and 40 years and two females between 25 and 50 years. The common site of location of the enamel pearl is adjacent to the furcation or furrow of the root, especially the bifurcation or trifurcation areas of maxillary and mandibular molars. The phenomenon of ectopic development of enamel on the root surface, variedly referred to as enameloma, enamel pearl, enamel drop or enamel nodule, is not well-understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tooth wear is caused by attrition, abrasion and erosion and it is well known that there is a positive correlation between the degree of tooth wear and chronological age of an individual. There are numerous methods and indices that have been developed for diagnosing, grading and monitoring loss of dental hard tissues. Some of them are based on a qualitative assessment and other on a quantitative measurement. Grading or scoring systems (qualitative approach) can be very subjective. Quantitative techniques are always considered more objective and reliable but in the same time also more complex and time consuming. The aim of this abstract is to present a simple, computer-based method for metric quantification of tooth wear suitable for age estimation purposes in paleodontology. Occlusal surfaces of teeth of upper and lower jaw were photographed by a digital camera under standardized conditions. Images were transferred to the computer software VistaMetrix Inc. Using this software, areas of exposed dentine on occlusal tooth surfaces were outlined and size of areas of exposed dentine was calculated and expressed in square millimeters. Areas of exposed dentine were correlated to chronological age. This method provides simple, user friendly, fast, reliable, precise and inexpensive metric quantification of tooth wear giving data which are objective and comparable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Monti 'e Prama site, made famous by the discovery of numerous large stone statues "The Monti 'e Prama giants", is a necropolis located in Sardinia, dated to the X - IX BC. The statues, all depicting men: archers, boxers and fencers, were found collapsed and fragmented, in the immediate vicinity of the burials. The sample of inhumated skeletons consists of 41 individuals, almost all males, who died when adolescents, young adults or, more rarely, mature. Neither children nor elders were present. An interesting question is whether the statues depicted the deceased or could have come from a temple located elsewhere. In this regard, the diagnosis of the age at death is an element of considerable importance, but the skeletal age is difficult to determine in this sample because of the bad state of preservation of the bones, while the teeth are well preserved and have allowed us to reconstruct a seriation in order to seniority on the basis of wear. Since tooth wear is a weak indicator of age, we also used a method based on the deposition of secondary dentine, by the pulp area/tooth area ratio calculation, which gets a greater precision. It was found that the correlation between the degree of wear and pulp area/tooth area ratio is somewhat low, indicating that the two processes, although both age-dependent, do not have a very similar trend. It was also noted that the method of pulp area / tooth area ratio tends to "make the individuals grow old" in cases of discrepancy, but in general confirms the young age of many adults and the absence of the elderly. In this sense, it confirms even the possibility of an association between the deceased and the statues of young athletes or warriors. The results of pulp area/tooth area ratio method, by moving the sample as a whole to ages slightly more advanced than those suggested by wear, offers the hypothesis that the community was characterized by alimentary habits involving a little wearing mastication activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A biography can be defined as a detailed description of a person's life. It includes facts about the birth, education, work, relationships, health and death of the subject. Some biographies also give us insight into a subject's experience of these events. Biography presents a subject's life story and it is usually non-fiction. When gaps exist, fiction may be used to portray certain aspects of that person's life. Odontobiography is a kind of biography based on analysis of the teeth and mouths of living or dead people. In method, odontobiography is quite similar to dental profiling in forensic dentistry, but with a significant difference in the aim. The aim of dental profiling is to establish somebody's identity. The aim of making somebody's odontobiography is to reconstruct the life of an individual and to provide as many details as possible from her/his life by analysis of the oral environment. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief insight into odontobiography as way of meta-interpretation of results of forensic and bioarcheological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Icelandic Sagas are an important source of information on the way of life in Iceland and possibly other Nordic countries 1000 years ago. Archaeological human skull material worldwide has revealed extensive tooth wear with the main cause believed to be consumption of course and rough diet. Dental erosion is generally thought of as a modern phenomenon, but there is emerging evidence that the condition has always been present to some degree. Skulls from Þjórsárdalur in the south of Iceland, dating from before 1104, were evaluated for tooth wear. An attempt was made to determine main causes of tooth wear from the wear pattern and also in the light of likely diet and beverage consumption according to data search on food and drink customs described in the Icelandic Sagas and manuscripts. Fifty-one skulls with 1001 teeth were available for research. Two methods were used to evaluate tooth wear and five for age estimation. Tooth wear was extensive in all age groups but significantly more in the older age groups with the highest score on first molar, with no difference between sexes. It had all the similarities seen in wear from coarse and rough diet. In some instances it has similar characteristics as seen in erosion in modern Icelanders consuming excessive amounts of soft drinks and other acidic beverages. According to the Icelandic Sagas and annals, a mixture of acidic whey and water was a daily drink in Iceland until the 20th century and whey was used for preservation of food. It is postulated that consumption of acidic drinks and food in addition to coarse diet has played a significant role in the dental wear of medieval Icelanders. It is concluded that acidic whey has considerable high dental erosive potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]