Dental health and disease in ancient Egypt

Abstract

Introduction This survey of ancient Egyptian palaeodontology draws not only on all available sources and previous studies (e.g. Harris et al. 1980; Bennike and Fredebo 1986; Harris et al. 1980; Smith 1986), but is also based on research conducted by the author on more than 500 ancient Egyptian skulls from the Duckworth Collection in Cambridge and the Natural History Museum, London. These collections contain more than 5,000 skulls from sites in Upper and Lower Egypt dating from the Predynastic to Ptolemaic Periods, a time span of almost 5,000 years. Many skulls display severe dental pathology, which varies over the millennia and can be explained by the influence of the diet. In addition to considering the incidence of dental disease, this chapter examines the diet of the ancient Egyptians, the role of medical practitioners who had the title of dentist, and the prescriptions of dental relevance found in the medical papyri. Finally, there is an assessment of the evidence that researchers have proposed in support of the theory that dental treatment was practised in ancient Egypt. Diet and dental disease in ancient Egypt After death, when other structures of the body have disintegrated, teeth are often all that remain intact as they are more resistant to postmortem decomposition than bone, and appear to be unaffected by the chemicals used in mummification. The dentition provides information about the diet and health of a population at a specific period in antiquity.