Have you ever wondered about ancient dentistry? Perhaps you assume that early man was clueless, and would just allow their teeth to rot away until they fell out. While technology certainly didn’t allow for anything like modern dentistry, history shows that generations before us were very inventive in how they dealt with dental needs. In fact, the discovery of a 6,500-year-old human jawbone with a beeswax filling a couple of years ago showed just how innovative Neolithic man must have been. The open access journal PLOS ONE reported this data – a discovery made by researchers Federico Bernardini and Claudio Tuniz of Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy.
Beeswax as a Dental Restoration Tooth
The ancient jawbone was studied by researchers for some time before they realized a tooth in the jawbone had evidence of an early dental filling made from beeswax. Bernardini and Tuniz called upon other experts to discern that the beeswax filling was most likely applied to a decaying and cracked tooth around the ancient individual’s final days on earth. If the beeswax was, in fact, applied prior to death for the man, this is an extremely exciting discovery for dental history. A beeswax filling in a living Neolithic person would have been placed to reduce the sensitivity and pain from a cracked or rotting tooth, similar to today’s more evolved restorative procedures.
Prehistoric Dental Fillings
There hasn’t been a wealth of solid evidence uncovered regarding prehistoric dentistry. That made the discovery of the beeswax filling particularly exciting to historians and scientists, alike. Found in Slovenia, the jawbone is believed to be the most ancient physical evidence of a dental filling ever discovered in Europe. The tooth in question presented with severe wear which Tuniz pointed out “is probably also due to its use in non-alimentary activities, possibly such as weaving, generally performed by Neolithic females.” These days, if a patient suffers a cracked or badly decaying tooth, several options for treatment are available, but none of them include the material of beeswax.
ABOUT DOWNEY FAMILY & COSMETIC DENTISTRY
Dr. Hadis Reyhani, Dr. Ben Reyhani, and Dr. Pasha Hakimzadeh, DDS, provide a wealth of combined experience, along with innovative technology and personalized care, to help improve our patients’ dental health so they can enjoy smiling again. To schedule a consultation, call Downey Family Cosmetic Dentistry today at (562) 472-2433.
