Stone age man used dentist drill

[apothecary]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4882968.stm

The researchers studied the drilled areas using an electron microscope

Stone age people in Pakistan were using dental drills made of flint 9,000 years ago, according to researchers.

Teeth from a Neolithic graveyard in Mehgarh in the country's Baluchistan province show clear signs of drilling.

Analysis of the teeth shows prehistoric dentists had a go at curing toothache with drills made from flint heads.

The team that carried out the work say close examination of the teeth shows the tool was "surprisingly effective" at removing rotting dental tissue.

A total of eleven drilled crowns were found, with one example showing evidence of a complex procedure involving tooth enamel removal followed by carving of the cavity wall.

Four of the teeth show signs of decay associated with the drilled hole.

"In all cases, marginal smoothing confirms that drilling was performed on a living person who continued to chew on the tooth surfaces after they had been drilled," the reserchers reported.

The form of dental treatment seen at Mehrgarh continued for about 1,500 years, before the practice was stopped in the area.

Flint drill heads are found abundantly at the Mehrgarh site, among assemblages of beads made of bones, shell and turquoise. Writing in Nature, the authors suggest that skills developed by bead craftsmen also worked well on teeth.

Mehrgarh straddles a route between Afghanistan and the Indus Valley to the south.

The researchers, led by Roberto Macchiarelli of the University of Poitiers, France, said it was an early site for agriculture, where barley, wheat, and cotton were grown.

[Dirty Old Man]

Fascinating!

Its a shame they hadn't invented fillings.

[Francois le Danque]

yeah that's pretty weird...i;ve never had any of my teeth drilled or filled or anything, how cool am i?

of course i'd rather that than break my arm every couple of years like i do

[planthelper]

i guess they filled the holes but it was something which did not survive time...

frank how old are you? do good teeth run in your family?

my bros has no fillings, and he is older than 50, we think it's because he's the first born and had never sugar as kid as it was after the war.

[Francois le Danque]

No I'm a young fella....

and no you should see my mother's teeth. she had like, none left at forty. then again it could have just been that she didn't look after them....

[Dirty Old Man]

My great grandmother was a freak. She died at 98 with perfect teeth with the exception of one tooth that was pulled out when she was 96 because it was causing her pain.

She had no decay what so ever just perfect white teeth.

Unfortunately mine are pretty ordinary.