Increased dental fluctuating asymmetry is associated with active skeletal lesions, but not mortality hazards in the precontact Southwest United States

Abstract

Objective This study examines whether individuals with higher dental fluctuating asymmetry (DFA) are frailer than those with lower DFA, by examining whether increased DFA is associated with skeletal lesion formation. Subjects and methods 150 individuals with permanent teeth and 64 individuals with deciduous teeth. All individuals are Ancestral Puebloans from archaeological sites in modern‐day New Mexico. We estimate DFA in three ways: (a) deciduous DFA only, (b) permanent DFA only, and (c) a composite of permanent and deciduous DFA. We analyzed DFA alongside lesion status for cribra orbitalia (CO) and porotic hyperostosis (PH), as well as the presence/absence of enamel hypoplasia (EH). All stress indicators were further analyzed for their impact on mortality hazards. Results We find that individuals with active CO and PH lesions have increased DFA, while those with healed lesions have lower DFA. We found no relationship between EH and DFA. Further, DFA alone does not predict individual mortality but CO does. Conclusions Individuals with increased DFA are frailer and therefore, less capable of buffering themselves against perturbations to their health than those with lower DFA. All results indicate that individuals in this study with lower DFA were more successful in buffering themselves against random environmental impacts during childhood. While DFA alone does not predict mortality hazard, its relationship to lesion status (lower DFA in individuals with healed lesions) indicates that it would be a valuable addition to studies of health and stress.

Childhood stress and developmental instability: Comparing microscopic enamel defects and cranial fluctuating asymmetry in a colonial Mexican sample

“…Therefore, the formation of enamel defects is a plastic response to childhood stress that theoretically should have a trade-off with later stability in growth, reflected in cranial FA (McPherson, 2021;Temple, 2019). We argue that previous research on enamel defects and FA underestimated the prevalence and frequency of early life stress because they observed LEH rather than perikymata spacing (e.g., Gawlikowska-Sroka et al, 2017;Hoover & Matsumura, 2008;Jung et al, 2016;O'Donnell & Moes, 2021a;Palubeckaité & Jankauskas, 2001). Therefore, we aim to reinvestigate the relationship between FA and early life stress by applying an altered method of measuring enamel defects that is less subject to underestimating stress.…”

“…We aim to advance our understanding of the relationship between acute developmental disruption, as measured through enamel defects, and chronic instability as measured through cranial FA. Previous research on enamel defects and dental or skeletal FA have not found significant associations between them (Eriksen, 2020;Hoover et al, 2005;O'Donnell & Moes, 2021a). This is often attributed to the different experiences that these stress indicators are capturing.…”

“…In such studies, increased levels of FA were significantly associated with lower SES, malnutrition, mortality related to degenerative disease, higher frequencies of skeletal lesions, and delayed growth (DeLeon, 2007; Guatelli‐Steinberg et al, 2006; Hagg et al, 2017; Perzigian, 1977; Weisensee, 2013). However, in other contexts, the relationship between FA and early life stress is not as clear, where FA is associated with some but not other skeletal indicators of stress (Gawlikowska‐Sroka et al, 2017; Hoover et al, 2005; O'Donnell & Moes, 2021a).…”

Integrating genealogy and dental variation: contributions to biological anthropology

“…Studies have centered around such factors as endogamy, birth order, and prenatal maternal effects as predictors of dental fluctuating asymmetry (e.g., Bailit et al, 1970; Lalumière et al, 1999; Mihailidis et al, 2009; Schaefer et al, 2006). We have already discussed fluctuating asymmetry as a phenomenon beyond the genotype—in skeletal and fossil samples it is interpreted as reflecting experiences of developmental stress and examined in relation to mortality risk (e.g., Barrett et al, 2012; Gawlikowska‐Sroka et al, 2017; Milella et al, 2018; O'Donnell & Moes, 2021), with genealogical work, in many cases, affirming these expectations.…”

Perinatal Disorders and Small Birthweight are Significantly Associated With Small Vertebral Neural Canal Size in a Contemporary Pediatric Autopsy Sample

“…Cultural, behavioral, biological, and/or epigenetic may induce stress 7–10. ELS can manifest in a developing organism’s skeleton and dentition 11–18. Here, we examine the association between the vertebral neural canal (VNC) and other indicators of ELS and known stress events.…”