The microscopic (optical and SEM) examination of dental calculus deposits (DCD). Potential interest in forensic anthropology of a bio-archaeological method

Abstract

This article describes the potential interest in forensic anthropology of the microscopic analysis of dental calculus deposits (DCD), a calcified residue frequently found on the surface of teeth. Its sampling and analysis seem straightforward and relatively reproducible. Samples came from archaeological material (KHB-1 Ra's al-Khabbah and RH-5 Ra's al-Hamra, two Prehistoric graveyards located in the Sultanate of Oman, dated between the 5th and 4th millennium B.C.; Montenzio Vecchia, an Etruscan-Celtic necropolis from the north of Italy, dated between the 5th and 3rd century B.C.; body rests of Agnès Sorel, French royal mistress died in 1450 A.D.; skeleton of Pierre Hazard, French royal notary from the 15th century A.D.). Samples were studies by direct optical microscope (OM) or scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Many cytological, histological and elemental analyses were possible, producing precious data for the identification of these remains, the reconstitution of their alimentation and occupational habits, and propositions for manner of death.

Ancient human microbiomes

“…Following electron microscopy imaging of modern dental calculus in the 1960s and 1970s (Schroeder, 1969; Jones, 1972; Lustmann et al, 1976), it was recognized that microorganisms within human, Neanderthal, and extinct primate dental calculus could be imaged and morphologically characterized using SEM (Brothwell, 1972; Dobney and Brothwell, 1986, 1988; Hansen et al, 1991; Dobney, 1994; Vandermeersch et al, 1994; Pap et al, 1995; Arensburg, 1996; Hershkovitz et al, 1997) and later direct optical techniques (Linossier et al, 1996; Charlier et al, 2010). Biomolecular investigations of calculus began with immunohistochemical analysis of Streptococcus mutans (Linossier et al, 1996), followed by gold-labeled antibody transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of in situ DNA (Preus et al, 2011), and PCR-based analyses targeting specific oral taxa, including Actinomyces naeslundii, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Streptococcus gordonii, P. gingivalis and S. mutans (De La Fuente et al, 2012; Adler et al, 2013).…”

The heart of Blessed Anne-Madeleine Remuzat: a biomedical approach of “miraculous” heart conservation

“…-The granular substance from the inner part of the heart was submitted to a microscope examination. The methodology employed for the sampling and preparation was the exact same one that of putrefaction fluid deposits [3], and dental calculus [4]: immersion in a solution of 10% diluted acetic acid, and 10% diluted formaldehyde for 48 h, sampling of 200 μl from the supernatant, and centrifugation (800 turns per minute for 10 min) in order to obtain two spots per slide. Four slides were produced, all were colored by the technique of hematoxylin-eosin-saffron after fixing of the spots to the air.…”

Dental calculus as a source of ancient alkaloids: Detection of nicotine by LC-MS in calculus samples from the Americas

“…In the last 10 years, there has been a notable uptick in archaeological studies that exploit ancient dental calculus to reveal new information about the past. Some of these studies have focused on bulk samples of calculus employing analytical techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (Charlier et al, 2010;Power et al, 2014), X-Ray Diffraction (Klepinger et al, 1977), or stable isotopes (Scott and Poulson, 2012;Poulson et al, 2013;Eerkens et al, 2014;Salazar-García et al, 2014). Other approaches attempt to break calculus down into constituent parts, for example, to identify microfossil starch grains or phytoliths (Dudgeon and Tromp, 2014;Hardy et al, 2009;Henry et al, 2010;Piperno and Dillehay, 2008), or specific biomolecules, such as DNA (Adler et al, 2013;Preus et al, 2011;Warinner et al, 2014aWarinner et al, , 2014bWeyrich et al, 2015) or proteins (Warinner et al, 2014c).…”