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Tigaran (Point Hope, Alaska) tooth drilling
Author(s) -
Schwartz Jeffrey H.,
Brauer Jaymie,
Gordonlarsen Penny
Publication year - 1995
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.1330970106
Subject(s) - dentistry , crown (dentistry) , perforation , tooth root , tooth loss , medicine , root canal , arctic , tooth wear , tooth fracture , periodontitis , orthodontics , dental alveolus , maxillary central incisor , geology , engineering , mechanical engineering , oceanography , oral health , punching
In a sample of 48 adult Tigarans (1300–1700 A.D.) from Point Hope, Alaska, 33 exhibited various degrees of periodontal disease, which, in 25, resulted in tooth loss (Schwartz, unpublished data). Although extreme examples of tooth wear were prevalent in the sample, carious infection was noted in only one individual, in whom the lower central incisors (I 1 s) had been affected. In the left I 1 infection had spread through the root's apex into the alveolar bone, causing an abscess. The buccal (labial) side of the root of this tooth, just below the crown, bears a shallow, relatively flat‐bottomed depression, with a small perforation into, as well as a second hole that fully penetrates, the root canal. Both of these features appear to have been produced by an implement, and, as they are associated with a diseased tooth, and ritualistic tooth shaping or drilling of any sort was, and is, not practiced among Arctic groups, their purpose was probably therapeutic. As such, this specimen appears to represent a case of precontact New World Arctic dentistry. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.