Assessment of age-at-death from mandibular molar attrition in medieval Danes

Stages of occlusal attrition of the permanent mandibular molars were recorded in 235 Danish medieval skulls, 52 of which were in various states of mixed dentition. For the first and second molar, ages at emergence and ages at occurrence of the earlier stages of attrition were estimated from the mixed dentitions, on the assumptions 1) that the age at eruption of a given number of permanent teeth was similar in medieval and contemporary Danish children, and 2) that the rate of attrition was similar for the first and second molars. Estimation of ages at occurrence of the later attrition stages and of the age at third molar emergence was based on percentage frequency distributions of the stages of attrition using reiterative calculating procedures. Third molar emergence was estimated at the early age of 14 years. It is argued that assessments of age-at death could be made fairly accurately for the age range 5-30 years, and with decreasing accuracy until about 40 years of age.