When in Rome

This pretty grin belongs to a 25-year-old Roman woman living in Britain around 350 AD. Cosmetic bleaching had yet to be invented. Dental hygienists were scarce. Despite this, a study of skulls from a Roman-British burial ground found that people in Roman times had far less gum disease than we have today. The researchers found that five per cent of Roman skulls showed signs of moderate to severe gum disease compared with 15 to 30 per cent in today’s population. Located in the English county of Dorset, the burial ground belonged to a community of non-smokers with low levels of diabetes, two of the factors that greatly increase gum disease today. Her teeth were perfectly healthy teeth, but this lady was buried with a copper coin in her mouth, resulting in a slightly discoloured incisor.

Written by Nick Kennedy

Nick Kennedy

Writer

A Biology and Science Communication graduate, Nick is now working behind the scenes on the BPoD project. He also works as a freelance science journalist.

• Image by Francis Hughes and colleagues
• King's College London
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 3.0)
• Research published in British Dental Journal, October 2014