Original scientific paper
Dental Wear Study in a 14th Century Skull of the Sao Tribe, Cameroon
Sylvain Santoni
Laurent Jean Sakka
Jean-Marc Garcier
Abstract
The aim of this work was to study the wear affecting the almost complete dentition of a Sao individual fossil from
Cameroon prehistory (XIVth century). Occlusal surfaces of the fossil fragile pieces were plaster replicated with an original technique adapted from usual dental impression methods (silicon elastomer polymerising by addition). Axial macrophotographs of both sectional dental casts and original pieces made it possible to produce drawings of the occlusal areas on transparencies in order to superimpose the lateral hemiarch counterparts in their optimal intercuspal position. The study of interarch contacts was completed by confronting and observing the occluding position of hemiarch replicas. The occlusal analysis revealed that the wear extent was equivalent on left and right molars. Hall’s occlusal wear index and Van Reenen and Reinach’s classification of proximal wear allow assessment of the degree of wear extent on premolar and molar sections in relation to the side or the arch observed. The even bilateral proximal and occlusal wears observed on the different kinds of homologous teeth appeared as the main contributor to this well-balanced interarch occlusion. The mandibular incisor losses and the particular type of wear affecting lower canines led to the conclusion of the presence of a labret, a great number of which was found in the area. According to Miles’ method of age assessment based on tooth wear, the pieces studied belonged to an individual between 30 and 40 years old5.
Keywords
dental anthropology; dental wear; occlusal wear index; proximal wear index; Miles’ method
Hrčak ID:
7499
URI
Publication date:
16.3.2006.
Visits: 2.233 *