The effects of dental wear on third molar eruption and on the curve of Spee in human archaeological dentitions

The abrasiveness of food is a key determinant in the rate of physiological attrition (dental wear) in humans. With increasing food processing through time, the rate of physiological dental wear in human teeth has decreased ma rkedly. Many consider such wear to be beneficial to oral health and that in sufficient wear may result in impaction of the third molars. If enhanced ex traoral food processing provides an evolutionary advantage, then it is poss ible that agenesis of the redundant third molar may follow. One of the aims here was to examine impaction and agenesis of the third molars in four pop ulations of varying antiquity and hence varying dental-wear rates. Paradoxi cally, whilst there is a decrease in the rate of dental wear with modernity , there is also an increasing prevalence of advanced dental wear due to pro longation of the lifespan of the human dentition. As the effect of dental w ear on the curve of Spee was unknown, a second aim was to examine it in an archaeological population with a high rate of dental wear. The results show ed an increase in non-eruption and impaction of the third molars with moder nity, but did not demonstrate a significant increase in the rate of agenesi s. The time period over which impaction and agenesis could be discerned was of the order of 600 years and this may not be sufficient to observe adapti ve changes at the genetic level in humans. In molar teeth there was no clea r indication of maintenance of the curve of Spee with dental wear. This has potential implications on the design of prostheses for the worn dentition. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.