A probable case of hypophosphatasia in St Bride’s Lower Churchyard (1770–1849, London, UK)

Objectives

The objective of this study was to analyse an individual whose remains are characterised by early deciduous tooth loss and multi-focal lesions on the post-cranial skeleton.

Materials

Skeletal remains of an immature individual buried between 1770 and 1849 in London.

Methods

The remains were examined by visual macroscopic inspection, supplemented by radiographic examination of the mandible and maxillae. A differential diagnosis with possible conditions, frequent in this archaeological context, was conducted. A comprehensive examination of dental lesions was performed to investigate the aetiologies of deciduous tooth loss.

Results

The individual exhibited a mosaic of skeletal and dental pathological changes, including premature loss of deciduous dentition, premature eruption of permanent teeth generalised bone loss in both the mandible and maxilla; osteomyelitis of the left radius; osteolytic lesion on the body of the second lumbar vertebra, and marked expansions of the rib shafts due to sub-periosteal new bone formation.

Conclusion

A differential diagnosis considered indicates that the pathological changes of the individual were most likely associated with a comorbidity involving hypophosphatasia and tuberculosis.

Significance

We present in this study several oral signs that could alert paleopathologists and bioarcheologists to systematically consider the potential of a condition that is rarely encountered in archaeological contexts.

Limitations

Due to poor preservation, this study was confined to the analysis of a partial maxilla and mandible, a left radius shaft and the axial skeleton (rib heads and vertebrae) of the individual.

Suggestions for further research

Further radiographic, histological and genetic analyses would confirm the diagnosis.