Dental Calculi of Siberian Natives, Russian Settlers, and Korean People of Joseon Dynasty Period in the 16th to 19th Century Eurasia Continent

Abstract

Objective. The prevalence of calculus is known to be variable by difference in diets or subsistence strategy between human populations. However, this situation has not been confirmed so far for hunter-gatherers and farming people in terms of history. In this study, we tried to reveal the association of diets or subsistence with calculus in different historical populations: Siberian natives, Joseon period Korean people, and Russian settlers in Siberia. Design. We examined the teeth of Siberian natives (hunter-gatherers), Russian (wheat farming) settlers, and Joseon (rice farming) people in sixteenth to nineteenth century. Age and sex were estimated using the methods of Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994). We examined specimens to detect signs of calculus formation in teeth. Calculus rates in each group were statistically compared, and the proportions of calculus by age or sex were also compared across each group. We used package R for statistical analysis. Results and Discussion. The prevalence of calculus deposition decreased in the order of Joseon people, Russian settlers, and Siberian natives. Our study proposes that the rate of calculi among farming people was evidently higher than that of hunter-gatherers in sixteenth to nineteenth century Eurasia. In all three groups, calculus prevalence became higher as age increases and was noteworthy in males. Conclusion. Current study demonstrated a significant difference of calculus formation between those groups with different diets or subsistence strategies. Higher prevalence of dental calculus was observed in agriculturalist Joseon Koreans and Russian settlers, but Siberian natives exhibited relatively lower frequency of dental calculus. The results of this study enable us to reconsider the meaning of association between subsistence strategy and calculus in different historical populations.