Dental News - Ancient dental plaque could hold secrets from the past

Dental Tribune International

Fri. 2. March 2018

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WASHINGTON, U.S.: The use of tobacco has forever been etched in human history. Now, for the first time, researchers in the U.S. have shown that nicotine residue can be extracted from calculus on the teeth of tobacco users hundreds, if not thousands, of years later. The discovery provides new insights into the ancient world, while opening up many new possibilities for further research.

By using modern and highly sensitive instrumentation, such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, the scientists have found they can detect and characterize trace amounts of a wide variety of compounds, including proteins, bacterial DNA, starch grains and other plant fibers in dental calculus. This breathes new life into research, as dental calculus had been largely ignored by archaeologists in the past.

“The ability to identify nicotine and other plant-based drugs in ancient dental plaque could help us answer longstanding questions about the consumption of intoxicants by ancient humans,” said co-author of the study Dr. Shannon Tushingham, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Washington State University (WSU).

As part of the research, the scientists, from WSU and the University of California (UC), collaborated with members of the Ohlone tribe in San Francisco Bay to extract calculus from the teeth of eight individuals buried between 6,000 and 300 years ago. Samples were analyzed for nicotine, caffeine, atropine (a muscle relaxant) and other plant-based drugs.

Among the analyzed samples, two tested positive for nicotine, demonstrating for the first time that the drug can survive in detectable amounts in ancient plaque. One test sample came from an older man who had been buried with his pipe; however, the researchers were surprised by the molar of an older woman testing positive for nicotine.

“While we can’t make any broad conclusions with this single case, her age, sex, and use of tobacco is intriguing,” said lead author Prof. Jelmer Eerkens, an anthropologist at UC. “She was probably past child-bearing age, and likely a grandmother. This supports recent research suggesting that younger adult women in traditional societies avoid plant toxins like nicotine to protect infants from harmful biochemicals, but that older women can consume these intoxicants as needed or desired.”

While the researchers did not detect evidence of any other plant-based drugs in this particular study, they believe dental calculus could be used to help trace the use and spread of other intoxicants.

The study, titled “Dental calculus as a source of ancient alkaloids: Detection of nicotine by LC-MS in calculus samples from the Americas,” was published in the April 2018 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

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