With a bevy of modern scanning technologies, an Italian research team has documented what could be the earliest known dental filling. Analysis of a 6,500-year-old mandible found in Slovenia showed evidence that beeswax was used to fill a cracked tooth with exposed dentin.
The intriguing results of the study of the Neolithic specimen were published in the online journal PLOS ONE. While the scans are not able to conclusively determine if the beeswax was applied to the tooth shortly before the subject’s death or shortly after, the researchers state that the strongest evidence points to the beeswax use before the subject died.
The results of this research might not be the building blocks of a new understanding of ancient dentistry, but they do exhibit the analytical power of the latest in imaging technologies. The researchers used synchrotron radiation computed micro-tomography (micro-CT), Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating, Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) during their study of the tooth.
While beeswax might have been the first known dental filling, it’s not likely to make a comeback in modern dentistry. Still the researchers believe it was effective at preventing further complications from the treated tooth.
Source: PLOS ONE