Beeswax Filling Points to Ancient Dentistry

Beeswax Filling Points to Ancient Dentistry

A study published in the September issue of PLOS ONE details what may be one of the earliest known examples of therapeutic oral interventions. Upon analyzing a 6,500-year-old human jawbone found in a cave in Slovenia more than 100 years ago, a team of Italian and Australian researchers discovered traces of a filling made from beeswax on the crown of a cracked left mandibular cuspid. This finding, which joins a small group of evidence supporting the existence of ancient dentistry, suggests that therapeutic “procedures” may have been practiced longer than previously speculated.

The confirmed presence of the beeswax filling, as well as its age, determined by researchers from Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics and the Elettra Laboratory of Sincrotrone Trieste, both in Trieste, Italy, were evidenced through analytical techniques that included a three-dimensional X-ray, radiocarbon dating, and infrared spectroscopy.

The partial mandible specimen, termed “Lonche 1,” most likely belonged to a 24- to 30-year-old man. The researchers note that if the filling was administered before the time of death, it was most likely used to relieve tooth sensitivity caused by exposed dentin or a cracked tooth, making it one of the earliest examples of a dental restorative.