3 Topic Commentaries

A Microbial Time Capsule in Dental Plaque

A Microbial Time Capsule in Dental Plaque

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  Christina Warinner, PhD

  Biomolecular archaeology / ancient DNA

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  Harvard University

  “It’s like a time capsule,” she said. “It’s the single richest source of ancient DNA in the archaeological record. There are so many things we can learn from it — everything from pollution in the environment to people’s occupations to aspects of health. It’s all in there.”

  Source
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  Molly K. Zuckerman, PhD

  Biological anthropology / paleopathology

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  Mississippi State University

  “This means that dental calculus, or calcified human dental plaque, which dentists scrape off the teeth of the living, can give us an otherwise impossible window into what killed many people in the past and shed light into the end of their lives. This is especially true for many who were historically marginalized, such as those shuttered in institutions, like asylums and public hospitals, and whose end-of-life experiences have largely been lost to history.”

  Source
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  Courtney A. Hofman, PhD

  Molecular anthropology / ancient DNA

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  University of Oklahoma

  “Finding these markers before widespread antibiotic use shows that antibiotic resistance, which is an urgent, rising public health problem in present-day populations, is a long-standing phenomenon.”

  Source