Egypt
Apologies for the lack of posts this week - I've had toothache. Two and a half years ago I had to go to the dentist to get a molar rebuilt. If I was sorry for myself then I am even sorrier for myself this week because I have had to have the same tooth drilled out for a root canal job - of which only half has been done and I am up for a rematch next Monday. Ugh. Why anyone as nice as my dentist would want to become a dentist I really don't know but he assures me that he had the vocational urge from childhood.
- Barnum Museum Mummy Suffered From Dental Disease
Stamford Advocate An expert in forensic dentistry at the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine in Farmington said that Pa-Ib, the 4,000-year-old Egyptian mummy at the Barnum Museum, suffered greatly from dental disease in the last years...
- In The Lab: Results From Mummy Scans From Cairo Museum
Los Angeles Times (Thomas H. Maugh II) With photos. CT scans of Egyptian mummies, some as much as 3,500 years old, shows evidence of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, which is normally thought of as a disease caused by modern lifestyles, researchers...
- Interview: Five Questions To The Mummy Doctor
Discovery Magazine Pathologist Frank Rühli scaled back his medical practice in 2005 to pursue an obsession with mummies. Since then he has used advanced imaging to perform autopsies on the long-dead and has played a key role in investigating the mysterious...
- Weekly Websites - Dentists
I have a complete terror of dentists. Today I am feeling particularly sorry for myself because I have to have a molar rebuilt. As I haven't been to a dentist for nearly six years, I do consider myself to be lucky not to need more treatment. As my...
- Nine Egyptian Mummies: Evaluation With High-resolution Ct And Reformation Techniques
http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/178/6/1367 "CT is an indispensable imaging tool in the evaluation of Egyptian mummies because it can noninvasively generate large amounts of data. We applied current CT imaging and postprocessing techniques to...
Egypt
Teeth
Apologies for the lack of posts this week - I've had toothache. Two and a half years ago I had to go to the dentist to get a molar rebuilt. If I was sorry for myself then I am even sorrier for myself this week because I have had to have the same tooth drilled out for a root canal job - of which only half has been done and I am up for a rematch next Monday. Ugh. Why anyone as nice as my dentist would want to become a dentist I really don't know but he assures me that he had the vocational urge from childhood.Anyway, the last time that I went through this particular nightmare I posted a set of links to dentistry in Ancient Egypt, which you can find here.
Since then there has been a major reveiw in the Journal of Comparative Human Biology of over 3000 mummy analyses (summarized on the Discovery Channel website by Rossella Lorenzi) which shows that dental problems were a common feature of life in Egypt:
There's also a complete article about analysis of nine human skulls, including dentition, complete with scan photos, entitled Head and Skull Base Features of Nine Egyptian Mummies: Evaluation with High-Resolution CT and Reformation Techniques by Heidi Hoffman and Patricia A. Hudgins on the American Journal of Roentgenology.
There's a whole chapter on Egyptian dental problems and dental surgery in Joyce Filer's book Disease, which quite makes my hair stand on end. Fascinating stuff though!
Finally, here are some health and beauty tips from Paula Veiga - wise lessons learned from ancient Egypt!
All I can say is that if I am a basket-case about dental work in this day and age I simply wouldn't have survived ancient times anywhere on the planet. It's the first time I've felt any real sort of emphathy with the likes of Ramesses II whose teeth must have been giving him serious pain at the time of his death.
Since then there has been a major reveiw in the Journal of Comparative Human Biology of over 3000 mummy analyses (summarized on the Discovery Channel website by Rossella Lorenzi) which shows that dental problems were a common feature of life in Egypt:
Worn teeth, periodontal diseases, abscesses and cavities tormented the ancient Egyptians, according to the first systematic review of all studies performed on Egyptian mummies in the past 30 years.
After examining research of more than 3,000 mummies, anatomists and paleopathologists at the University of Zurich concluded that 18 percent of all mummies in case reports showed a nightmare array of dental diseases.
"Evidence of dental disorders is plentiful because usually teeth are among the best preserved parts of a body. As for other diseases, the published studies do not always provide in-depth details. Nevertheless, we came across some interesting findings," senior author and medical doctor Frank Ruhli, head of the Swiss Mummy Project at the University of Zurich, told Discovery News.
There's also a complete article about analysis of nine human skulls, including dentition, complete with scan photos, entitled Head and Skull Base Features of Nine Egyptian Mummies: Evaluation with High-Resolution CT and Reformation Techniques by Heidi Hoffman and Patricia A. Hudgins on the American Journal of Roentgenology.
There's a whole chapter on Egyptian dental problems and dental surgery in Joyce Filer's book Disease, which quite makes my hair stand on end. Fascinating stuff though!
Finally, here are some health and beauty tips from Paula Veiga - wise lessons learned from ancient Egypt!
All I can say is that if I am a basket-case about dental work in this day and age I simply wouldn't have survived ancient times anywhere on the planet. It's the first time I've felt any real sort of emphathy with the likes of Ramesses II whose teeth must have been giving him serious pain at the time of his death.
- Barnum Museum Mummy Suffered From Dental Disease
Stamford Advocate An expert in forensic dentistry at the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine in Farmington said that Pa-Ib, the 4,000-year-old Egyptian mummy at the Barnum Museum, suffered greatly from dental disease in the last years...
- In The Lab: Results From Mummy Scans From Cairo Museum
Los Angeles Times (Thomas H. Maugh II) With photos. CT scans of Egyptian mummies, some as much as 3,500 years old, shows evidence of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, which is normally thought of as a disease caused by modern lifestyles, researchers...
- Interview: Five Questions To The Mummy Doctor
Discovery Magazine Pathologist Frank Rühli scaled back his medical practice in 2005 to pursue an obsession with mummies. Since then he has used advanced imaging to perform autopsies on the long-dead and has played a key role in investigating the mysterious...
- Weekly Websites - Dentists
I have a complete terror of dentists. Today I am feeling particularly sorry for myself because I have to have a molar rebuilt. As I haven't been to a dentist for nearly six years, I do consider myself to be lucky not to need more treatment. As my...
- Nine Egyptian Mummies: Evaluation With High-resolution Ct And Reformation Techniques
http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/178/6/1367 "CT is an indispensable imaging tool in the evaluation of Egyptian mummies because it can noninvasively generate large amounts of data. We applied current CT imaging and postprocessing techniques to...