Ancient Mammal Had Modern Teeth Live Science - October 31, 2007
New Mammal Fossil Sheds Light on Teeth Evolution National Geographic - October 31, 2007
Ancient Mammal Had Modern Teeth Live Science - October 31, 2007
Fossil Tooth Belonged to Earliest Western European, Experts Say National Geographic - July 2, 2007
'First west Europe tooth' found BBC - June 30, 2007
Million-year-old human tooth found in Spain
Oldest Dentistry in Americas Found -- Fang Dentures? National Geographic - June 14, 2006
Researchers uncover earliest dental work in this hemisphere PhysOrg - June 14, 2006
Thousands of years before screen idols began beautifying themselves
with cosmetic dentistry ancient Mexicans were getting ceremonial dentures.
Researchers report Wednesday that they found a 4,500-year-old burial in
Mexico that had the oldest known example of dental work in the Americas.
Researchers uncover earliest dental work in this hemisphere PhysOrg - June 14, 2006
Skeletons reveal secrets of 9,000-year-old dentistry Guardian - April 18, 2006
9,000-Year-Old Drilled Teeth Are Work of Stone Age Dentists National Geographic - April 6, 2006
Stone age man used dentist drill BBC - April 6, 2006
Stone age people in Pakistan were using dental drills made of flint 9,000 years ago, according to researchers.
Teeth from a Neolithic graveyard in Mehgarh in the country's Baluchistan province show clear signs of drilling.
Analysis of the teeth shows prehistoric dentists had a go at curing toothache with drills made from flint heads.
The team that carried out the work say close examination of the teeth shows the tool was "surprisingly effective" at removing rotting dental tissue.
A total of eleven drilled crowns were found, with one example showing evidence of a complex procedure involving tooth enamel removal followed by carving of the cavity wall.
Four of the teeth show signs of decay associated with the drilled hole.
"In all cases, marginal smoothing confirms that drilling was performed on a living person who continued to chew on the tooth surfaces after they had been drilled," the reserchers reported.
The form of dental treatment seen at Mehrgarh continued for about 1,500 years, before the practice was stopped in the area.
Flint drill heads are found abundantly at the Mehrgarh site, among assemblages of beads made of bones, shell and turquoise. Writing in Nature, the authors suggest that skills developed by bead craftsmen also worked well on teeth.
Mehrgarh straddles a route between Afghanistan and the Indus Valley to the south.
The researchers, led by Roberto Macchiarelli of the University of Poitiers, France, said it was an early site for agriculture, where barley, wheat, and cotton were grown.
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