Details Published on Tuesday, 25 February 2014 16:53 <\/p>\n
Hardened plaque discovered on the teeth of 1,000 year old human skeletons has revealed not only their diets but the diseases they faced.HARDENED plaque discovered on the teeth of 1,000-year-old human skeletons has revealed the world's oldest case of gum disease. <\/p>\n
Described as a 'microbial Pompeii', the plaque preserved bacteria and microscopic particles of food on the surfaces of teeth, effectively creating a mineral tomb for microbiomes. <\/p>\n
And it revealed that our ancestors had gum disease that was caused by the same bacteria that plagues modern man, despite major changes in diet and hygiene. <\/p>\n
They found that the ancient human oral microbiome already contained the basic genetic machinery for antibiotic resistance over eight centuries before the invention of antibiotics in the 1940s. <\/p>\n
DNA testing of the tartar also showed some of the things ancient humans had been eating, such a vegetables, which do not show up in fossil records. <\/p>\n
Gum disease is caused by a build-up of plaque on the teeth and is thought to affect over half of adults in the UK. <\/p>\n
The teeth were taken from skeletons found at a site in Dalheim, Germany.Plaque is a sticky substance that contains bacteria and when it hardens it forms tartar. <\/p>\n
Unlike bone, which rapidly loses much of its molecular information when buried, calculus grows slowly in the mouth and enters the soil in a much more stable state, helping it to preserve biomolecules. <\/p>\n
Researchers from the University of York, along with Swiss and Danish colleagues, said studying plaque will be more important than teeth in discovering the lifestyles of our past ancestors. <\/p>\n
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Plaque On 1000-Year-Old Human Teeth Could Unlock Secrets Of Medieval Diet And Disease<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Details Published on Tuesday, 25 February 2014 16:53 Hardened plaque discovered on the teeth of 1,000 year old human skeletons has revealed not only their diets but the diseases they faced.HARDENED plaque discovered on the teeth of 1,000-year-old human skeletons has revealed the world's oldest case of gum disease. Described as a 'microbial Pompeii', the plaque preserved bacteria and microscopic particles of food on the surfaces of teeth, effectively creating a mineral tomb for microbiomes. Continue reading