From the mouths of babes: Dental caries in infants and children and the intensification of agriculture in mainland Southeast Asia

Abstract

Many bioarchaeological studies have established a link between increased dental caries prevalence and the intensification of agriculture. However, research in Southeast Asia challenges the global application of this theory. Although often overlooked, dental health of infants and children can provide a sensitive source of information concerning health and subsistence change. This article investigates the prevalence and location of caries in the dentition of infants and children (less than 15 years of age) from eight prehistoric mainland Southeast Asian sites collectively spanning the Neolithic to late Iron Age, during which time rice agriculture became an increasingly important subsistence mode. Caries prevalence varied among the sites but there was no correlation with chronological change. The absence of evidence of a decline in dental health over time can be attributed to the relative noncariogenicity of rice and retention of broad-spectrum subsistence strategies. No differences in caries type indicating differences in dental health were found between the sites, apart from the Iron Age site of Muang Sema. There was a higher prevalence of caries in the deciduous dentition than the permanent dentition, likely due to a cariogenic weaning diet and the higher sensitivity of deciduous teeth to decay. The level of caries in the permanent dentition suggests an increased reliance on less cariogenic foods during childhood, including rice. The absence of a temporal decline in dental health of infants and children strengthens the argument that the relationship between caries and agricultural intensification in Southeast Asia was more complex than the general model suggests.

Child Bioarchaeology: Perspectives on the Past 10 Years

“…Oral health of infants and children (e.g. Halcrow et al 2013;Stránská, Velemínský, and Poláček 2015), and dental wear patterns, including new macroscopic and microwear techniques (Mahoney et al 2016;Mays 2016;Scott and Halcrow 2017) are starting to be used by bioarchaeologists to assess weaning food types and the timing of weaning. Although oral health is not necessarily a direct reflection of diet, it may be informative of infant feeding types (e.g.…”

“…bottle feeding) and the cariogenicity of weaning food (e.g. Halcrow et al 2013;Bonsall, Ogden, and Mays 2016). There is limited research on oral health of infants and children from archaeological samples, but the work that has been done highlights the usefulness of this endeavour.…”

“…There is limited research on oral health of infants and children from archaeological samples, but the work that has been done highlights the usefulness of this endeavour. For example, Halcrow et al's (2013) analysis of caries in deciduous and permanent teeth of infants and children from prehistoric Southeast Asia indicates that the deciduous teeth are more sensitive to carious decay than the permanent dentition. Bonsall, Ogden, and Mays (2016) present a differential diagnosis of oral pathology in a 3-4-year-old child from a Late Roman site at Ancaster, England.…”

Frequency of dental caries in children in the Early Iron Age and the Medieval populations from Ukraine

“…The oldest reliable evidence of dental caries (650,000-160,000 BP) (Lanfranco and Eggers 2012) is lesions on contact sur-faces of molars and premolars (Homo heidelberguensis, Broken Hill 1 2017). In the last decade there has been a growing interest in studies on caries in children of past populations (Oyamada et al 2008;Garcin et al 2010;Torlińska-Walkowiak and Jerszyńska 2011;Redfern et al 2012;Halcrow et al 2013;Stránská et al 2015;Rohnbogner and Lewis 2016) because they are an important source of information about changes in diet and health, time of which can be examined due to chronology of primary and permanent dentition.…”

Molecular analysis of ancient caries

“…However, the most dramatic increase in caries frequency occurred in the transition towards agriculture owing to a change in diet. This change can be seen in both Europe and America [18][19][20], although there are places where such a relationship is not so clear, as in mainland southeast Asia, where the relative noncariogenicity of rice, at that time an increasingly important subsistence mode in the region, and the retention of broadspectrum livelihood strategies put the global application of this theory into question [21]. But this looks like the exception rather than the rule.…”