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12 - Tooth Cementum Annulations Method for Determining Age at Death Using Modern Deciduous Human Teeth: Challenges and Lessons Learned

from Part II - Protocols

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2022

By
Vicki L. Wedel† ,
Kenneth P. Hermsen  and
Mathew J. Wedel
Edited by
Stephan Naji ,
William Rendu  and
Lionel Gourichon
Stephan Naji
Affiliation:
New York University
William Rendu
Affiliation:
University of Bordeaux (CNRS)
Lionel Gourichon
Affiliation:
Université de Nice, Sophia Antipolis
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Summary

In recent years, the Tooth Cementum Annulations method has been demonstrated to be highly effective at estimating age at death in permanent teeth. Prior to this study, no validation studies have attempted to use TCA to age deciduous teeth. Deciduous teeth provide unique challenges for anthropologists seeking to use the TCA method. Among these are the constraint that cementum annulations are only countable immediately before and after the root apex closes, and the fact that in healthy teeth the cementum record is destined to be destroyed by rhizolysis, so cementum annulations will only be available in teeth that are surgically extracted, or in teeth from juvenile decedents. From a practical standpoint, we found that methods that had previously yielded good results in permanent teeth worked much less well in deciduous teeth. The use of high magnification, bright-field illumination, and analyzing multiple regions of interest per tooth are all recommended for best results.

Keywords

cementochronologydeciduous teethage at deathage at extractionmagnificationacellular extrinsic fibers cementummixed cementumsampling limitations
Type
Chapter
Information
Dental Cementum in Anthropology , pp. 215 - 225
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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