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Roman Forum Yields Stash Of Teeth Extracted By Ancient Dentist

This article is more than 8 years old.

Trapped in the bend of a sophisticated floor drain in an unassuming shop in the Roman Forum, 86 loose teeth – intact but all with cavities – were discovered in 1987. Nearly three decades later, one bioarchaeologist thinks he has gathered enough evidence to prove that the teeth were extracted by a highly skilled Roman dentist in the 1st century AD.

The practice of medicine in the Roman era was quite advanced for its time. Roman doctors knew how to perform amputations and caesarean sections, how to take out eyes, catheterize bladders, and perform pelvic exams with a speculum. On the other hand, dental hygiene was anything but stellar. The time period is infamous for the use of the ammonia in urine to whiten teeth. Catullus, a bawdy poet of the time, wrote that some people “rub their teeth and red gums every morning with what they have pissed, so that the cleaner their teeth are, the more piss they’re shown to have drunk.” It’s unclear how widespread practices like this were and how much authors were exaggerating.

Since Roman dentistry is not well known from historical records, bioarchaeologist Marshall Becker has spent much of his career studying the practice in ancient Italy, from the Etruscan era through the Empire . He tells me that “Roman and other early texts abound with references to dentistry as well as careful instructions for the removal of diseased teeth,” but he notes that there is very little actual surviving evidence. Most dentists could only extract teeth and dole out ancient forms of pain relievers. It’s clear from research studies across the Empire that these were both essential to life, as skeletons show high rates of cavities, periodontal disease, abscesses, wear, and chipping.

In his latest article in the International Journal of Anthropology, Becker outlines his analysis of the 86 rotten teeth from the Forum. They were found in a drain that ran to a taberna, a small shop nestled in the platform of the Temple of Castor and Pollux after it was rebuilt following a fire in 14 BC. Each tooth has a large cavity, and some are so severely decayed that only a thin enamel shell remains. Becker looked for any evidence of tool marks on the teeth or breaks that would suggest hasty and imprecise removal of painful teeth. But he found no breaks and no scrapes from tools. “The person or persons who removed these teeth,” he writes, “must have been quite skilled in the procedure.” According to surviving records of Roman dentistry, the procedure would have involved firmly grasping and wiggling the teeth loose in their sockets before extraction as well as “cutting the gum and the alveolar areas of the jaw,” as described by Celsus in his medical treatise De Medicina.

Becker also wanted to learn from the teeth about the people this Forum dentist treated. He considered normal patterns of dental decay and loss and estimates “that no fewer than 50 individuals are represented by these teeth recovered from within the drain.” Two baby molars were found, but the rest of the teeth are adult molars or premolars. Using tooth crown size as a guide, Becker discovered teeth from both men and women, and dental wear patterns showed that most of the permanent teeth were from adults in the age range of 30-60. The location of the cavities, at the interproximal surfaces, also told Becker that soft, sugary, foods were getting stuck between teeth.

The real reason these teeth are so interesting, though, is that they are the first clear evidence for the practice of dental extractions – and very skilled extractions at that –  in the ancient world and that they come from the Roman Forum itself. Additional artifacts found in this taberna, such as jars that held pain relieving ointment, also point to its use as a dental practice. Becker, though, wonders “how many other extracted teeth made it through the excellent Roman sewer system to the cloaca maxima and into the Tiber River, or were thrown into the gutter outside this shop, or swept away in routine cleaning?”

Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Roman Forum. (Photo by K. Killgrove)

Becker’s study of these Roman teeth ties into his research into Etruscan dentistry as well, although the two practices had largely different aims.  The Etruscans were known for their cosmetic dentistry. In particular, he notes that adult women would have their front teeth removed and replaced with false teeth fashioned into a bridge with gold bands. While the Romans picked up on this Etruscan practice, even using it for cosmetic effects at times, dentists in the Roman era were more concerned with removing teeth for medical and hygienic reasons.

Until the modern inventions of toothbrushes, flossing, and fluoridated toothpaste, ancient European populations whose diets involved a lot of grain suffered enormously from dental decay. This study of forgotten teeth washed away into a drain demonstrates that although the Romans had poor dental hygiene, they did have skilled dentists to relieve their pain and prevent further infection by extracting their teeth. I do wonder, though, how much Castor & Pollux Dentistry charged its clients for these services?

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