Teeth as Bioindicators of Human-Environment Interaction: Merging Perspectives from Bioarchaeology and Contemporary Biobanking

Dr. Alexis Dolphin, University of Waterloo.

Various publics have concerns about human-environment interactions in terms of how they have evolved, and what their long-term consequences may be for the future. One way by which the quality of human-environment interactions may be assessed is through the use of various human ‘bioindicators’, tissues or bodily products (e.g. blood, breastmilk) that may provide insights on health. These insights may be retrospective or prospective in nature, directed at either looking back to document/explain poor health, or looking forward to try and predict functional and health-related outcomes.

Deciduous teeth are of particular interest to researchers from disciplines such as public health and environmental science due to their unique structural properties and their formation during the critical pre-and postnatal periods of development. While much recent work with dental bioindicators has come from large biobanking projects collecting data from living peoples, bioarchaeologists have long used teeth to study the frequency and timing of morbidity events in past populations, examining how early childhood environments are captured by teeth and indicative of individuals’ health later in life. With this presentation I will explore some of the ways that bioarchaeologists and biobanking researchers are alike in their concerns and approaches, and some ways in which they differ.

The goal then will be to consider the benefits of merging strengths from both perspectives and suggesting ways to clarify what we can all expect to know (or not know) about the health of humans through the study of their teeth.