Blue Bridge Lane
&
Fishergate House
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Dental analysis is a vital part of the study of human remains from archaeological contexts. Teeth often survive better than bone, and are therefore useful indicators of past health, diet, biological relationships and environment.
The upper and lower jaws of each individual were recorded to establish the number of tooth positions represented, as well as the number of teeth present, congenitally absent, unerupted, or lost before (ante-mortem) and after (post-mortem) death. The prevalence of dental disease, such as cavities (caries), tartar deposition (calculus), dental abscesses, trauma, stress lines (dental enamel hypoplasia) and periodontal disease (inflammation of the gums) was also recorded. Many of these conditions are interrelated and are therefore illustrated together in Tables 49 and 50.
In total, 155 individuals had one or more teeth: three newborns, seven infants, fifty-nine juveniles, eleven adolescents, nine young adults, sixteen young middle adults, twenty-two old middle adults and twenty-nine mature adults. This resulted in the recording of a total of 3653 tooth sockets and 2667 teeth. Of the remaining eighty-nine individuals, most lacked skulls as a result of intercutting of later skeletons. Consequently, many jaw bones and teeth were also found in the disarticulated assemblage.
A total of forty-seven teeth were absent from the jaw, probably due to impaction, because they were congenitally absent hypodontia or because they were unerupted. However, the cause for the lack of teeth cannot be confirmed without extensive radiography of the jaws.
Comparative analysis was undertaken using the dentition s from Fishergate House and other contemporary populations, with the aim of noting significant trends in dental health and hygiene. However, such analysis is fraught with problems, due in part to the lack of standardisation in dental recording and reporting. Further difficulties were caused by the large number of children in this population, as only a small number of children's skeletons have been recovered from comparative medieval cemetery excavations. As children tend to enjoy better oral health than adults, analysis of dental pathology in the Fishergate House population may imply that this population suffered from less dental pathology than populations from other cemeteries.
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