The frequency and distribution of caries in the mediaeval population of Bijelo Brdo in Croatia (10th–11th century)

Abstract

Summary Reconstruction of the life of ancient peoples can be accomplished by studying their dental remains. The further we go into the past, the greater the importance of dental remains for answering a wide spectre of questions related to the life of a particular community. The dental system is a valuable source of information on the type of food, illnesses, and social stratification within a community.The purpose of this paper was to determine the frequency, distribution, and characteristics of dental caries in the mediaeval population of Bijelo Brdo in Croatia.The analysed sample consisted of the dental remains of 85 individuals with the total of 1064 teeth. The majority (979 or 92.0%) of the teeth belonged to the permanent dentition, and this data set was analysed in this report. The frequency of antemortem tooth loss in the sample was 6.7%, the frequency of caries -9.5%. The most frequent recorded caries were interproximal (3.9%), followed by occlusal (2.9%), and buccal/lingual (1.3%).This research showed that the frequency and distribution of dental caries in the early mediaeval population from Bijelo Brdo is very similar to that of other European populations of the same socio-economic status during the same historic period. Chronological changes in the localisation of caries in populations that inhabited continental Croatia during the mediaeval period indicate a gradual reduction of interproximal caries and an increase of occlusal, buccal, and lingual lesions. These data suggest a change of diet with softer foods becoming more available in the younger time periods. #

Caries Through Time: An Anthropological Overview

“…For medieval populations of England and Scotland from the 13 th -15 th centuries the caries frequency vary between 6.0-7.4% (Kerr et al, 1990;Watt et al, 1997), whereas in medieval sites in Croatia from the 11 th -12 th centuries the prevalence of caries is 45%, with frequencies or 9.5%, identical to the reported for later sites from the 14 th -15 th centuries of the same region (Slaus et al, 1997;Vodanovic et al, 2005). In general, Late Medieval populations do not present frequencies significantly higher than Early Medieval populations.…”

Using dental and activity indicators in order to explore possible sex differences in an adult rural medieval population from Thebes (Greece)

“…Therefore, even though dental caries is associated with other factors aside from diet, such as oral hygiene, we may rather safely assume that Thebes' population was more dependent on carbohydrate food sources, compared to Filotas, Stylos and Kastella. In addition, Thebes' caries rate is also higher than the respective one of Bijelo Brdo (Croatia, 10-11 th centuries A.D.) 9.5% (Vodanovic et al 2005), of Iznik (Turkey, 13 th century A.D.) 6.8% (Caglar et al 2007), of Whithorn (Scotland, 13-15 th centuries A.D.) 7% (Watt et al 1997), of Valjevo (Serbia, 14-16 th centuries A.D.) 9% (Djuric-Srejic 2001).…”

Frequency of dental caries in children in the Early Iron Age and the Medieval populations from Ukraine

“…ies in Britain in the Late Iron Age (LIA), the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD (Redfern et al 2012) and the Romanian period (Rohnbogner and Lewis 2016), Sebastovce, Slovakia in 630-890 AD (Bodorikova and Vesela 1999), Great Moravia in the 9th -the 10th centuries AD (Stránská et al 2015), Croatia dated to the 10th -the 11th centuries (Vodanović et al 2005), Cedynia, Poland in the 10th -the 13th centuries (Torlińs-ka-Walkowiak and Jerszyńska 2011) and Astrakhan, Russia dated to the 13th -the beginning of the 15th century (Pererva 2012). In the Iron Age frequency of caries in the population from Ukraine was not different from the British one: 2.4 and 6.7% accordingly (χ 2 =0.58, df=1, p=0.44).…”