Dental Anthropology

Recommended Prerequisites

None.

Teaching Methods

- Lectures, using slides;

- In practical classes deciduous and permanent teeth casts and osteological collections (identified and non-identified) are used to introduce students to the practical study of dental morphology and pathology.

- Monitoring of the students in learning the different methodologies used for registration in Dental Anthropology.

- Research on several topics proposed, in order to deepen and consolidate the scientific knowledge.

Learning Outcomes

This course aims to provide students with essential knowledge about the methodologies used in the study of teeth from archaeological, forensic and museological contexts. Whereas the teeth are the part best preserved after an individual's death, the analysis of the dental morphological variation, oral pathology and developmental alterations is an essential tool in the understanding of the past populations.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

• Dental anatomy

  • Human dentition: identification of permanent and deciduous teeth

  • Non metric and metric dental traits.

  • Kinship analysis using odontological non metric traits

• Congenital dental anomalies

• Defects of dental enamel

• Dental wear

  • Definition and types of dental wear

  • Progression and consequences

  • Antiquity and history

  • Registration importance

• Oral pathology

  • Plaque related diseases, their definition and aetiology

  • Dental calculus

  • Dental caries

  • Periodontal disease

  • Periapical inflammation

  • Dental pathologies’ paleoepidemiology and registration

Head Lecturer(s)

Ana Maria Gama da Silva

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Written essay on a research topic on oral pathology proposed by the teacher: 50.0%
Written presentation of a practical data collection on dental morphology proposed by the teacher: 50.0%

Bibliography

Irish JD, Nelson GC. Technique and Application in Dental Anthropology. Cambridge studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology 53. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

Harris E. 2005. Tooth-coding system in the clinical dental setting. Dental Anthropology 18(2): 43-49.

Hillson S. 2001. Recording dental caries in archaeological human remains. Int J Osteoarchaeol 11: 249-289.

Hillson S. 2005. Teeth. Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology. 2ª Edição. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

Scott GC, Turner CG. 1997. The anthropology of modern human teeth. Dental morphology and its variation in recent human populations. Cambridge Studies in Biological Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

Turner CG, Nichol C, Scott GR. 1991. Scoring procedures for key morphological traits of the permanent dentition: the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System. In Advances in dental anthropology, Kelley M, Larsen C (eds). New York: Wiley-Liss; 13-31