Topographical presentation of dental wear as arches in a French mediaeval population

Relationship of Tooth Wear to Chronological Age among Indigenous Amazon Populations

“…The dentition is a useful forensic source since it is available long after all other tissues have disintegrated [ 1 – 5 ]. Teeth can provide a reliable marker for the estimation of chronological age before adulthood [ 1 , 6 – 10 ], since their development is less affected by malnutrition and other systemic factors than is skeletal development [ 11 ]. Measures of dental wear can also provide a means to estimate age, and are especially useful after the dentition has finished developing.…”

“…The need for a reliable indicator for age estimation, especially in adults, has stimulated several studies aiming to create new techniques to estimate adult chronological age [ 1 , 6 – 9 , 12 , 13 ]. In indigenous populations, age can be estimated based on family structure and physical examination performed by a physician, dentist or anthropologist.…”

“…Occlusal tooth wear is considered a natural physiological process during aging [ 6 , 8 , 10 , 14 – 16 ], with its etiology attributed to the mechanisms of abrasion, erosion and attrition [ 10 , 14 , 16 ]. These mechanisms rarely operate in isolation.…”

“…The co-occurence of two or more different processes at different times increases the complexity of tooth wear [ 14 , 16 , 17 ]. The amount of tooth structure lost varies significantly amongst different population groups according to eating habits and methods of food preparation [ 1 – 3 , 6 , 18 ]. Other factors such as the loss of teeth, parafunctional habits, changing patterns of mandibular movement, bite force, geographic and environmental conditions, might also influence wear processes [ 3 , 10 , 14 , 17 , 19 , 20 ].…”

“…Other factors such as the loss of teeth, parafunctional habits, changing patterns of mandibular movement, bite force, geographic and environmental conditions, might also influence wear processes [ 3 , 10 , 14 , 17 , 19 , 20 ]. Studies confirm that degenerative diseases of teeth vary amongst different ethnic groups [ 6 , 9 , 11 , 14 , 21 ]. For this reason, it is important to perform investigations with different populations in order to evaluate the accuracy of tooth wear as an estimator of chronological age.…”