The Vikings, famous as raiders who terrorised many parts of Europe, may have been quite ruthless, but their society seems to have had access to surprisingly advanced dental care for the era. A University of Gothenburg analysis of Viking Age teeth showed that although caries and toothache were widespread, there was also evidence of dental practices not too dissimilar from modern ones.
The study examined 3293 teeth from 171 individuals among the Viking Age population of Varnhem in Västergötland, Sweden.
The site is known for extensive excavations of Viking and medieval environments, including tombs where skeletons and teeth have been preserved well in favourable soil conditions.
The research team from the University of Gothenburg’s Institute of Odontology worked with an osteologist from Västergötland’s Museum. The skulls and teeth underwent clinical examinations at Gothenburg using standard dentistry tools under bright light.
A number of X-ray examinations were also performed using the same technique used in dentistry, where the patient bites down on a small square imaging plate in the mouth.
Caries and tooth loss
The results, which have been published in the journal PLOS ONE, show that 49% of the Viking population had one or more caries lesions.
Of the adults’ teeth, 13% were affected by caries – often at the roots. Children with milk teeth or a mix of milk and adult teeth, were entirely caries-free however. (Presumably sweets for the kids were not high on the Viking raiders’ lists.)
Tooth loss was also common among adults. The studied adults had lost an average of 6% of their teeth, excluding wisdom teeth, over their lifetimes. The risk of tooth loss increased with age.
The findings suggest that caries, tooth infections, and toothache were common among the Viking population in Varnhem – but the study also reveals examples of tooth care.
“There were several signs that the Vikings had modified their teeth, including evidence of using toothpicks, filing front teeth, and even dental treatment of teeth with infections,” says Carolina Bertilsson, a dentist and Associate Researcher, and the study’s first-named and corresponding author.
Not unlike today’s treatments
One sign of more sophisticated procedures was molars with filed holes, from the crown of the tooth and into the pulp, probably in order to relieve pressure and alleviate severe toothache due to infection.
“This is very exciting to see, and not unlike the dental treatments we carry out today when we drill into infected teeth. The Vikings seem to have had knowledge about teeth, but we don’t know whether they did these procedures themselves or had help.”
The filed front teeth may have been a form of identity marker. In both this and previous studies, the cases found were male.
Carolina Bertilsson continues: “This study provides new insights into Viking oral health, and indicates that teeth were important in Varnhem’s Viking culture. It also suggests that dentistry in the Viking Age was probably more sophisticated than previously thought.”
Source: University of Gothenburg
