Ice Age dental procedures

Teeth with clear signs of treatment have been found in pón Northern Italy at a site called Riparo Fredian near the city of Lucca in Tuscany. Both incisors belong to the same person. Their owner lived about 13,000 years ago.

There are clear traces of drilling on the teeth. Prehistoric dentist drilled into teeth up to the coronal pulp. It is not known what served as a dental drill. Perhaps it was a piece of sharp stone. The diseased tissue was removed, and the resulting gap was filled with bitumen and włóplant knami and hair.

It is not known what purpose the addition of food to fillings in the teeth of włóplant stems and hairów. Perhaps, according to study leader Stefano Benazzi of the University of Bologna, the use of włóplant stems along with bitumen was intended to reduce bólu. Bitumen móhead was also used as an antiseptic. The filling also kept leftover food away from the inside of the tooth preventing infection.

Using advanced microscopic techniques, researchers have gained excellent insight inside the drilled hole. According to them, openóThe r was augmented using the róThe fossilized tools were probably made of stone. Benazzi found after the study that it was an extremely painful procedure.

Known from earlier findings are cases of filling in the holes of theóin teeth using beeswax. However, these cases took place thousands of years póThen. This is according to the dating of finds. Also in ancient Egypt, there are known cases of dental interventions.

The most important aspect of this discovery, according to the authors of the study in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, is the confirmation of the „Therapeutic dental intervention caused by pathology”. This means that the disease had to be studied. It was taken próba its diagnosis, and then medical measures were taken to cure the patient.

It is dowód for dental procedures amongód hunter-gatherer cultures from the Pleistocene period. This is much earlier than expected. What’s more, the dental intervention took place long before the spread of agriculture, i.e., before the appearance of dietary óearly humans foodóin cereals causing dental problems.

– It was a change in diet that led to the development of dentistry – said Benazzi.