Widespread caries and toothache – but also some dental work and filing of front teeth. Viking Age teeth from Varnhem in Sweden bear witness to surprisingly advanced dentistry. This has been shown in a study carried out at the University of Gothenburg.
The study examined 3,293 teeth from 171 individuals among the Viking Age population. The site is known for extensive excavations of Viking and medieval environments, including tombs where skeletons and teeth have been preserved well in favorable soil conditions.
The teeth underwent clinical examinations using standard dentistry tools under bright light. A number of X-ray examinations were also performed using the same technique used in dentistry, where the patient bites down on a small square imaging plate in the mouth.
The results, which have been published in the journal PLOS ONE, show that 49% of the Viking population had one or more caries lesions. Of the adults’ teeth, 13% were affected by caries – often at the roots. However, children with milk teeth – or with both milk and adult teeth – were entirely caries-free (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295282).
The findings suggest that caries, tooth infections, and toothache were common among the Viking population in Varnhem. However, the study also reveals examples of attempts to look after teeth in various ways.
“There were several signs that the Vikings had modified their teeth, including evidence of using toothpicks, filing front teeth, and even dental treatment of teeth with infections,” says Carolina Bertilsson, a dentist and Associate Researcher, and the study’s first-named and corresponding author.
One sign of more sophisticated procedures was molars with filed holes, from the crown of the tooth and into the pulp, probably in order to relieve pressure and alleviate severe toothache due to infection.
The filed front teeth may have been a form of identity marker. In both this and previous studies, the cases found were male. Carolina Bertilsson continues:
“This study provides new insights into Viking oral health, and indicates that teeth were important in Varnhem’s Viking culture. It also suggests that dentistry in the Viking Age was probably more sophisticated than previously thought.”
AR #84
The New Crystal Skull Enigma
by Phillip Coppens
