Going to the Dentist
If you think going to the dentist is bad today, just imagine what it must have been like 13,000 years ago.
Archaeologists have discovered a pair of ancient teeth in northern Italy that show evidence of primitive dental work, each containing an unusual hole that extends down to the pulp chamber.
In what likely would have been a very painful procedure, researchers say the Ice Age ‘dentist’ used a sharp stone to remove diseased cavity tissue and then filled the holes with the tar-like substance bitumen.
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Archaeologists have discovered a pair of ancient teeth in northern Italy that show evidence of primitive dental work, each containing an unusual hole that extends down to the pulp chamber
The teeth were discovered at the Riparo Fredian site in Italy, and are thought to date back to the Upper Paleolithic, between 13,000 and 12,740 years ago.
While a previously discovered set of teeth indicated that dental practices occurred as far back as 14,000 years ago, the researchers say the new find marks the earliest example of the use of a filling, according to New Scientist.
In a microscopic analysis of the Ice Age teeth, which came from the same person, the researchers found scratches and other marks on the inner walls that would have come from something other than chewing.
Each of the teeth has a large, deep hole, indicating they had been ‘drilled’ into with a sharp object.
And, the researchers found evidence that they had once been filled with bitumen, a tar-like binding substance.
Along with this, they found bits of straw and what could be hair.
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