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Implications of tooth root hypercementosis in a Barbados slave skeletal collection
Author(s) -
Corruccini Robert S.,
Jacobi Keith P.,
Handler Jerome S.,
Aufderheide Arthur C.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330740206
Subject(s) - etiology , dentistry , demography , medicine , tooth loss , population , malnutrition , geography , oral health , environmental health , pathology , sociology
A 17th‐ to 19th‐century cemetery sample of 104 slaves from Newton Plantation (Barbados) shows uniquely high hypercementosis prevalence, as well as unexpectedly high and variable skeletal lead content. A variety of biological and archeological factors indicates that individuals with lower amounts of these anomalies (relative to age at death) were probably African‐born, first‐generation slaves. The hypercementosis is related to the progression of periodontal disease as assessed from alveolar bone. Although the hypercementosis is endemic in the Caribbean black population, it does not as yet have a clear explanation. We suggest the etiology might relate to chronic malnutrition involving periodic, seasonal rehabilitation.