Dental macrowear and microwear

Abstract

Dental macrowear is the nonpathological loss of dental hard tissues resulting from tooth use, usually related to mastication. Other factors leading to macrowear include bruxism and extramasticatory activities. As opposing teeth come into contact, food particles and exogenous grit remove microscopic amounts of enamel and dentin that, over time, aggregate to create macroscopic wear. Macrowear records long‐term changes in tooth surfaces and, in a broad sense, provides evidence of age, diet, and nuances of tooth use. In general, poorly processed diets, like those of foragers, tend to lead to faster rates of macrowear compared to farmers. It is usually scored on ordinal scales that rank cusp height and dentin exposure, although quantitative approaches exist. Dental microwear analysis is the study of microscopic features on the enamel and usually focuses on phase II wear facets. Microwear study began with light microscopy, but transitioned to the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Later, dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) developed, which uses a white‐light confocal profiler and scale‐sensitive fractal analysis software to collect and analyze 3D surface data, such as surface complexity and feature orientation. Hard diets produce more complex surfaces and fibrous diets produce features similarly oriented.