Using teeth as tools: Investigating the mother–infant dyad and developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis using vitamin D deficiency

Abstract

Objectives: With a growing interest in the mother-infant dyad and the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis among biological and medical anthropologists, this study set out to provide all the information required to evaluate if mineralization defects in dentine might be caused by vitamin D deficiency in the critical first 1000 days of life.Materials and Methods: Information was compiled on dentine formation in utero to approximately 18 years, and a method for determining the location of the neonatal line in dentine was devised, allowing the assessment of the prenatal and early life period. Reevaluation of previously analyzed teeth (n = 61) was undertaken with detailed examination of n = 5/22 first permanent molars forming in the prenatal and critical early life periods.Results: First permanent molars and all deciduous teeth give information on intrauterine development and on the first 1000 days postnatally providing a direct window on maternal and fetal health. Three archaeological individuals had interglobular dentine that formed prenatally suggesting that their mothers experienced vitamin D deficiency at the time dentine was forming and all other individuals had a deficiency during the first 1000 days of life. Conditions that could cause systemic mineralization defects were determined, and in each, case they were found to be consistent with vitamin D deficiency.Discussion: The neonatal line serves as a clear baseline for determining prenatal and postnatal events, particularly those related to vitamin D, calcium, and phosphate metabolism, and can be used to investigate the maternal-infant dyad for both past and present communities. K E Y W O R D S interglobular dentine, maternal health, neonatal line, prenatal vitamin D deficiency 1 | INTRODUCTION Teeth provide a permanent biological marker of metabolic stressors that disrupt mineralization in utero and early childhood. This is signifi-cant for both medical and biological anthropologists interested in the mother-infant dyad and the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis (DOHaD), offering insights into maternal health and a means by which theoretical approaches linked to early life conditions that affect development can be tested and developed. DOHaD is a paradigm that explores how early life environments, particularly Megan B. Brickley and Lori D'Ortenzio contributed equally to this study.

Cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis are associated with respiratory infections in a contemporary mortality sample from New Mexico

“…VitD deficiency leads to malabsorption of calcium and phosphorous (Brickley, Kahlon, & D'Ortenzio, 2020, see table 1; Mays, 2018; Snoddy, Buckley, & Halcrow, 2016), impairing bone mineralization. In addition to the typical rachitic bowing of long bones, PCLs can develop.…”

Synergies between the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease framework and multiple branches of evolutionary anthropology

“…10,11 While aspects of an organism's health may in some instances correlate positively with its expected fitness, in other instances we should expect health to be traded off energetically against investment in reproduction. 4,[10][11][12] Scholars in a variety of anthropological subdisciplines have embraced DOHaD models, including bioarchaeology, [13][14][15][16][17] human biology and human behavioral ecology, 12,18 and primatology. 19,20 Integration of DOHaD-based epidemiological approaches into bioarchaeological studies is providing empirical tools to help overcome many of the built-in biases of the archeological record, as well as strengthening theoretical links among growth, environment, and health.…”

Sea, sickness and cautionary tales: a multi-isotope study from a post-mediaeval hospital at the city-port of Gibraltar (AD 1462–1704)

“…Bone collagen is formed over many years and reflects an average of the diet over this period . Dentine collagen and enamel carbonate reflects diet over the time of tooth formation (a number of years during development; Gustafson and Koch 1974;AlQahtani et al 2010;Brickley et al 2020). δ 13 C values can be used to distinguish between plants that use different photosynthetic pathways, C 3 and C 4 (Vogel and Van der Merwe 1977).…”

“…Third molars were preferentially sampled, although second molars and premolars were sampled when suitable third molars were not available. Dentine samples were obtained from below the root-enamel junction from 32 teeth where roots were available to represent diet at the time of root formation, that is between c. 13 to 19 years for third molars, c. 7 and 14 years for second molars and c. 6 and 12 years for premolars (Gustafson and Koch 1974;AlQahtani et al 2010;Brickley et al 2020). Samples were obtained for carbonate isotope analysis from all teeth, while a subset of 17 teeth was selected for strontium isotope analysis.…”

“…Samples were obtained for carbonate isotope analysis from all teeth, while a subset of 17 teeth was selected for strontium isotope analysis. The isotopic results from the enamel samples represent the time of crown formation, that is between c. 9 and 13 years for third molars, c. 3 and 7 years for second molars and c. 2 and 6 years for premolars (Gustafson and Koch 1974;Brickley et al 2020). The teeth analysed for 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values were selected on the basis of their δ 13 C, δ 15 N and δ 18 O values in order to represent the range of data obtained in these analyses.…”