TOOTH WEAR AND TEMPOROMANDIBULAR-JOINT MORPHOLOGY IN A SKULL MATERIALFROM THE 17TH-CENTURY

Skeletal remnants from the skulls of 69 subjects from the 17th century have been studied focusing on TMJ morphology and tooth wear. Several of the skulls were damaged and altogether 68 condyles and 28 temporal components of the TMJ, and 97 dentate jaws could be examined. Tooth we ar was extensive and most of the first molars in both jaws had lost mo st of their occlusal morphology. This is remarkable with respect to th e fact that the great majority of the subjects had died before the age of 35 years, according to the age determination performed. The TMJs s howed frequent remodelling but only rarely deformative changes. The fr equent observation of a broken up compact bone layer on the condyle wa s interpreted as a post-mortem artefact. The results indicate adaptive response of the TMJs to the probably heavy masticatory function but d o not support the suggested relationship between tooth wear and TMJ os teoarthrosis.