Original scientific paper
Tooth wear among the indigenous Dayak Kenyah of Sungai Bawang village, East Kalimantan, Indonesia: a forensic anthropological perspective
Maria Istiqomah Marini
orcid.org/0000-0002-6238-4869
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
In forensic anthropology, tooth wear serves as a critical indicator of diet, age, and cultural practices. The Dayak Kenyah population is primarily involved in hunting and shifting cultivation. However, in this study population, they currently reside close to urban areas, where modernization may influence dietary habits. This study investigated clinical tooth wear in the modern-day Dayak Kenyah population, focusing on incisal and occlusal surfaces and their relationships with age and sex. Most participants exhibited mild to moderate wear, with incisal teeth showing greater wear than occlusal teeth. Age and tooth wear were positively related, while no significant differences were observed between male and female. The findings suggest that modernization may influence dietary habits, which in turn affect tooth wear, despite the population’s partial retention of traditional practices such as hunting and shifting cultivation. These results highlight that cultural and diet changes affect tooth wear in indigenous populations.
Keywords
tooth wear; Dayak Kenyah; indigenous populations; forensic anthropology; modernization
Hrčak ID:
342501
URI
Publication date:
28.12.2025.
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