Reading Care in Teeth: Dental Health and Social Inequality in Bioarchaeological Contexts

Winsome H.S. Lee*, Wing N.W. Chu, Joyce M.L. Au, Amos L.H. Lo, Kar-ming Tsang, W.L. Lok, Nga Ching Cheung, K.Y. Chan, Choi-ying Ling, and Maggie M.Y. Yeung

Dental remains provide some of the most informative indicators of health, diet, and lived experience in past populations. Unlike other skeletal elements, teeth preserve well and record both physiological stress and long-term exposure to environmental and behavioural factors. This study examines dental health within a bioarchaeological framework, with particular attention to how patterns of pathology may reflect not only biological processes but also social conditions and access to care. Drawing on observations from archaeological skeletal collections, this paper explores the prevalence and distribution of dental pathologies, including caries, abscesses, and antemortem tooth loss. Rather than treating these conditions solely as markers of diet or disease, the study considers their implications for pain, functional impairment, and possible intervention or support within past communities. Evidence of survival with severe dental conditions may suggest varying degrees of care, adaptation, or tolerance within different social contexts. By integrating dental analysis with broader discussions of inequality and health, this research highlights how teeth can serve as a window into both individual experience and structural conditions. The findings contribute to ongoing debates in bioarchaeology regarding the interpretation of health and care, emphasizing the importance of considering not only the presence of pathology but also the social responses to it. This approach aligns with current efforts to reconstruct more nuanced osteobiographies that foreground lived experience, vulnerability, and resilience in past populations.