Quantifying calculus: a suggested new approach for recording an important indicator of diet and dental health

This paper describes a quantitative approach to the assessment of dental calculus in human archaeological skeletal samples. The approach combines the ranked calculus scoring method described by Buikstra and Ubelaker [1994. Arkansas Archeological Survey Research Series, Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville, Arkansas] and a modified Simplified Calculus Index, utilized by dental clinicians. We recorded amounts of calculus on the buccal, lingual, and interproximal surface of all extant teeth, and generated an index for the maxillary posterior dentition, maxillary anterior dentition, mandibular posterior dentition, and mandibular anterior dentition for three skeletal samples. They include 145 Egyptian Predynastic individuals from the site of Hierakonpolis, 104 Predynastic individuals from Naqada, Egypt, and 101 Meroitic Nubians from Semna South, present-day Sudan. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to analyze differences between the sexes and among age groups at each site. The results demonstrate that the calculus indices more effectively reveal trends and differences in calculus severity than frequency data can alone. For example, at Hierakonpolis, males (18-35 years) had significantly more calculus in the maxillary posterior dentition than females, while females (50+ years) had significantly more calculus in the maxillary posterior teeth. Frequency data merely showed that 94% of both males and females had calculus. The use of calculus indices can reveal how quickly calculus accumulates with age within the dental arcade and within a sample. Moreover, better understanding of the severity and location of calculus can improve a researcher's knowledge regarding the effect of calculus on dental pathologies, such as carious lesions and periodontal disease.