The prevalence and distribution of dental caries in four early medieval non-adult populations of different socioeconomic status from Central Europe

• The caries experience of deciduous and permanent dentition in non-adult individuals from four early medieval burial grounds.
• We drew from our previous study, which compared the incidence of caries in the adult inhabitants.
• Whether and how the existence of caries in the non-adult age group is associated with different socio-economic status.
• The level of caries at all of the studied medieval locations was very low.
• We presume that the lifestyle of the individuals had a greater influence on dental caries than did the socioeconomic status.

ObjectivesThe aim of the study was to map the dental health status in non-adult individuals and to verify whether and how the existence of caries in the non-adult age group is associated with the different socio-economic status of early medieval populations.Material and methodsWe studied the dental remains from the acropolis of the Mikulčice settlement agglomeration, where members of the higher social classes were buried, and from the Mikulčice hinterland. Overall, we evaluated 2544 teeth/3714 alveoli of deciduous dentition and 1938 teeth/2128 alveoli of permanent dentition. We determined the number of individuals with dental caries (i.e., caries frequency index, F-CE) and the proportion of teeth/alveoli with caries/ante-mortem tooth loss (i.e., caries intensity index, I-CE).ResultsWe found no statistical significant difference in the F-CE values between the Mikulčice hinterland and the acropolis. In addition, we found no statistically significant difference in the proportion of teeth with carious lesions (I-CE) either in the case of deciduous dentition or in the case of permanent dentition between the hinterland and the acropolis. In the case of permanent dentition, the statistically significant highest proportion of carious lesions (I-CE) was found in Mikulčice I (p ≤ 0.05). We confirmed an increase in the rate of caries with age.ConclusionsThe level of caries at all of the studied medieval locations was very low. We presume that lifestyle and the associated dietary habits and hygienic practices of the individuals or population groups had a greater influence on dental caries than did the socio-economic status of these individuals.