Relationship Between Ancient Egyptian Dentistry

Additionally, the correlation between ancient Egyptian diets and ancient Egyptian dentistry were factors in the causation of dental anomalies. Dental anomalies are diet irregularities in dental development, such as: Hypodontia, Hypercementosis, Taurodontism, Gemination and Fusion. Hypodontia is the partial absence of teeth, whereas Anodontia is the complete absence of teeth, which was less common in Miller’s examination of Egyptian skulls. Miller claims that: “Hypodontia is less common in the primary dentition [children’s teeth] than in the permanent dentition [adult’s teeth].” Hypodontia is more common in adult teeth because they have more teeth (32 teeth) in comparison to children’s teeth (20 teeth), thereby increasing the surface area and
Miller explains that: “The thickness of Cementum increase with age and compensates for occlusal wear” (Figure 6). Taurodontism is a condition where the narrowing of the cervical margin is eliminated as a result of the pulp chamber being expanded vertically at the expense of the roots. This compromises the tooth as a whole by weakening the overall mobility of its structure, ultimately leading to tooth loss (Figure 7). Ultimately, Gemination and Fusion are inseparably impossible to differentiate from one another. Gemination is where two teeth are partially developed from one tooth. On the other hand, Fusion is the union of two normally separated tooth germs, dentin and/or enamel. Miller provides an ancient example where: “[Khnum Nakht’s] right upper incisor is in complete Gemination; the pulp chamber and canal are as one and the only notable feature is that the tooth is larger than anticipated. The left incisor is even larger and is an incomplete
Abrasion is the gradual loss of hard tooth enamel caused by mechanical actions of a foreign object. Attrition is the gradual loss of hard tooth enamel caused by mastication (chewing) or crunching between opposing teeth. The magnitude of abrasion and attrition of the tooth enamel is highly correlated to the age of the subjects. Puech et al. conducted a study to examine abrasion and attrition based on the Giovanni Marro collection exhibited at the Institute of Anthropology, Turin, Italy. These collections were collected in the early 1900’s from Gebelen and Assiut of Upper Egypt and Assuan of the Egypt-Nubian border. Their study claims that: “The wear on the occlusal surfaces of teeth increases with age but wear differences between teeth in the same quadrant are found to be less marked as age increases” (Figure 4). The degree of attritional wear has a large diversity. For example, the wear on the first molar can be 1.5 times greater than that of the first premolar wear, proving that humans masticate more on the molars then they do on premolars. This dental wear can also be caused by the abrasive and harsh elements in the food and/or by strong pressure on the occlusal surface. Another study was conducted by Puech et al. to pinpoint the main cause of dental wear in ancient Egyptians. Puech et al.’s study examined the