Periodontal disease and dental caries from Krapina Neanderthal to contemporary man – skeletal studies

Objective. The aim of this study was the quantification of alveolarbone resorption as well as the number and percentage of teeth withdental caries. Materials and Methods. Four samples of jaws and singleteeth were studied from four time periods, i.e. from the KrapinaNeanderthals (KN) who reportedly lived over 130,000 years ago, andgroups of humans from the 1st, 10th and 20th centuries. Resorption ofthe alveolar bone of the jaws was quantified by the tooth-cervicalheight (TCH) index. Diagnosis of dental caries was made by inspection and with a dental probe. TCH-index was calculated for a total of 1097 teeth from 135 jaws. Decay was calculated for a total of 3579 teeth. Results. Resorptive changes of the alveolar bone in KN and 1st century man were more pronounced on the vestibular surface thaninterdentally (p