What Is the Current Application of Dental Paleopathology and Link With Human Anthropology?
In dentistry, just like in other branches of medicine, humans have been suffering for centuries from diverse dental diseases or issues, for which the study of paleopathology and anthropology are crucial, offering valuable insights into current disease demographics and epidemiological patterns.
Anthropology is about the scientific study of humans, including their innate biology, psychology or behavior, cultures, traditions, societies, and linguistics. This holistic discipline is one discipline of human physiology that combines the social, and life sciences, as well as studies the humanities in detail. On the other hand, paleopathology is closely related to the field of anthropology where specifically there is a study of ancient diseases and injuries so that we get to know the in-depth analysis of the skeletal remains, the biological behavior of organisms through scientific analysis of decayed tissue, fossils, coprolites, etc. Dental paleopathology is the discipline that can offer a lot of valuable insights into the current epidemiological patterns of dental diseases, using valuable research and archaeological evidence by reconstruction of past events in the centuries, and find out how best to prevent the skeletal expressions, genetic mutations, and diseases at a global scale.
Paleopathology in the field of dentistry, is the same way as it is used in medicine, i.e. with its applications in the identification of dental diseases and their profound effects that were seen in ancient human groups. Dental paleopathology can also help researchers understand the origins, past social conditions, and the impact of the skeletal expressions of diseases from the previous centuries on current disease epidemiology in the world. The focus currently of dental paleopathology is also deciphering conditions like biological stress or physiologic stress causing periodontal disease and tooth loss, the effects of physical stress or environment on human dentition, the prolonged retention of primary teeth as per anthropology patterns, the temporomandibular joint disorders (pain and compromised movement of the jaw joint and surrounding muscles)issues resulting from certain genetic and systemic conditions. These disease patterns that have been observed in human anthropology from seven million years ago from the ancient ancestors hold key evidence in deciphering present and future disease progression patterns, and also in creating a framework or guideline for medical researchers to explore solutions holistically.
What Is Deciphering Dental Paleopathology?
Paleopathology studies several research materials such as the hard tissues like bones and teeth (which are amongst the strongest mineralized structures in the human body) that are derived from humans of ancient times, by studying and analyzing these archeological excavations or models-present disease patterns or future disease patterns as well as progression can be predicted.
The most classic example of dental paleopathology is one in which current periodontal diseases can be traced way back to the tooth loss issues that were evident in human skeletal remains from Japan- even in Neanderthal species around approximately 60,000 years ago.
This means that periodontal disease which is the most common cause of tooth loss or mobility can indeed have its roots from time immemorial given that even in the Neanderthal species, the issues of tooth loss existent. Though these ancient fossils only offer a trace of evidence, they are still valuable in determining disease progression patterns or for predicting future pathologic outcomes from a global perspective.
What Is the Use of Research Findings and Their Role in Human Anthropology?
The current research links between diet and poor nutrition, being innately associated with a high risk of oral disease patterns and their progression can find their roots way back into the times of the hunting and gathering societies recorded in ancient history thousands of years ago.
The research findings indicate that when there were poor harvests that affected the lower socioeconomic sector in the agricultural society 1000-1500 years earlier, the frequent food shortages that were affecting the residents or people of the "hunting and gathering society" were linked to nutritional stress, bacterial diseases or infections and even oral diseases.
The classic example of weaning diets that are primarily deficient in protein, creating the global issues of nutritional stress, diarrhea, and bacterial infections have been linked to oral diseases in lower socioeconomic status groups even today, because of their high predisposition to malnutrition. Some dental researchers also currently interpret the high frequency of enamel hypoplasia/defective enamel matrix formation to be a progressive disease pattern over the centuries, in human populations ever since the increased population density in the early agricultural period of civilization. Just like amelogenesis imperfecta syndrome (a congenital disorder that presents with a rare abnormal formation of the enamel) causing enamel hypoplasia (enamel defect characterized by thin or absent enamel), periodontal diseases, dental caries, gingivitis and oral red or white lesions (an irregular epithelial surface that may be caused by a variety of processes, including chronic trauma, inflammation, and neoplasia), oral fibrosis (thickening or scarring of the tissue) pathologies linked to systemic conditions, and salivary gland tumors can manifest easily as a part of genetic inheritance patterns or systemic diseases that can affect the high-risk population groups in specific regions of the world.
The continuation of such disease patterns into the future such as genetic transmission in certain systemic syndromes, would be one of the primary reasons for the global rise in environmental stressors, in public or community infections, even implicated in the outbreaks of endemic diseases.
Conclusion
The study of dental paleopathology is akin hence to the study of medical paleopathology and human anthropology, where the investigations need to be continued in these fields to decipher solutions for a brighter future, for holistic problem-solving in the fields of dentistry and medicine, to create sustainable solutions globally for managing present and future dental disease patterns based on the past or historical observations.
