Two ancient cultures of northern Chile, the Chinchorro (9000-3500 BP) and the Maitas Chiribaya (850-700 BP) were examined for dental pathology in search of possible correlations between dental health, diet, and the cultural practice of coca-leaf chewing. The Chinchorro occupied the river mouth of the Azapa valley, subsisting almost exclusively on a maritime economy. The Maitas Chiribaya, descendants of migrant highlanders, had a rather well-developed agricultural subsistence base. The Chinchorro demonstrated extreme attrition rates and a correspondingly high frequency of periapical abscesses. They were essentially caries-free and enjoyed a moderate antemortem tooth loss frequency. The Maitas Chiribaya suffered light attrition; a high caries frequency, especially at the cementoenamel junction of crown and root, and a remarkably high antemortem tooth loss frequency. The cultural practice of coca-leaf chewing is implicated in the excessive posterior edentulism of the Maitas Chiribaya.
Carbon-14 (14C) dating from mummies of the Alto Ramirez culture confirms that coca leaf chewing was an incipient practice among members of a population that peopled the valleys and coastal areas of Northern Chile by 3,000 years before the present (yr.B.P.). Out of eleven bodies from the burial site of Pisagua-7 (PSG-7, S 19 degrees 35', W 70 degrees 13') that were analyzed, two samples tested positive. Mummy 725-A C2 (dated 3,090 to 2,850 two sigma calibrated 14C years before the present) was shown to have a cocaine value of 13.3 nanograms/10 milligrams of sample (ng/10mg), and mummy 741 (2,890 to 2,760 two sigma cal yr B.P.), a 5.6 ng/10mg value.
The geriatric population in many parts of the United States is underserved by dentistry. Socioeconomic problems, difficult access to dental facilities, and confusion about the need for dental care often prevent the elderly from seeking dental service. Because dental diseases are not life threatening or outwardly disabling, administrators of institutions for the elderly and health legislators place a low priority on dental care for the elderly. These factors working in concert with the insidious, progressive, and cummulative nature of denture diseases contribute to the poor dental health experienced by some segments of the geriatric population. Dentistry has the manpower and the technology to improve the oral health of the elderly, but society must be made aware of the importance of dental health in the total health of elderly persons in order that dentistry be given a chance to achieve that goal.
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