The distribution of caries by tooth, by location on the tooth and by age in 504 Anglo-Saxon dentitions was determined as a baseline for quantitative comparisons with similar investigations currently being made in dentitions from the Iron-Age, Romano-British and Mediaeval periods and the 18th to 20th centuries. Excluding gross cavities, caries was commonest overall at the cemento-enamel junction, particularly on the interstitial surfaces, the majority of these cavities beginning in cementum. Caries at contact areas or in buccal fissures was rare as was caries at any site in the deciduous dentition. In the youngest two age-groups, caries occurred most frequently in the occlusal fissures but subsequently declined possibly because attrition progressed more rapidly than the caries process. Molars were attacked more frequently than incisors, canines or premolars. The number of cavities near the cemento-enamel junction increased with attrition and with alveolar recession. This finding is in agreement with the suggestion that caries began at this site as destruction of the crown-form by attrition allowed food to pack at the gingival margin and as the resultant alveolar recession led to exposure of the cementum. The lack of sugar in the Anglo-Saxon diet was probably an important factor in the rarity of cavities at the contact areas or in the fissures.

Keywords:
History of Caries Epidemiology
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© 1971 S. Karger AG, Basel
1971
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