Comparison of Mineral Density of Dental Structures of Ancient Human Skeletons from the Roman Period with Modern-Day Human Dental Structures

Objectives: Comparison of maxillary, mandibular, dental crown and root mineral density in human skeletons identified in historical excavations with today's human maxillary, mandibular dental crown and root.

Methods: After the skull images were obtained, four groups were created: maxilla 1, mandible 1 from the old period, maxilla 2 from the images taken from today's patients, and mandible 2 from the images taken from today's patients. Seventeen skeletons were previously classified as young age, middle age, and older age. Among the archive tomography images, 17 images from young (15-35), middle (36-56) and older (57 and over) age images were included in the study. HU value of the desired region was calculated automatically by the device using Region of interest (ROI).

Results: In this study, 34 jaws and 68 teeth were evaluated, including 7 mandibles and 10 maxillae from the late Roman period, and 8 mandibles and 9 maxillae from today's people. The average HU value of the crowns of mandibular anterior teeth from the late Roman period was measured as 2406.0. The average HU value of the crowns of maxillary anterior teeth was found to be 3383.8. In the posterior aspect, the average crown HU value measured in the maxilla was found to be higher than that in the mandible.

Conclusions: The finding showed that the density of dental tissues of ancient people, such as enamel and dentin forming the crown, and cementum and dentin forming the root, was significantly higher than today's people.