scholarly journals Dental wear proxy correlation in a long-term feeding experiment on sheep ( Ovis aries )

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (180) ◽  
pp. 20210139
Author(s):  
Nicole L. Ackermans ◽  
Daniela E. Winkler ◽  
Ellen Schulz-Kornas ◽  
Thomas M. Kaiser ◽  
Louise F. Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ovis Aries ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Dental Microwear ◽  
Dental Wear ◽  
Tissue Change ◽  
Maxillary Molars ◽  
Tissue Removal ◽  
Mandibular Molar ◽  
Crown Tissue ◽  
Dental Microwear Texture Analysis

Dietary reconstruction in vertebrates often relies on dental wear-based proxies. Although these proxies are widely applied, the contributions of physical and mechanical processes leading to meso- and microwear are still unclear. We tested their correlation using sheep ( Ovis aries , n = 39) fed diets of varying abrasiveness for 17 months as a model. Volumetric crown tissue loss, mesowear change and dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) were all applied to the same teeth. We hereby correlate: (i) 46 DMTA parameters with each other, for the maxillary molars (M1, M2, M3), and the second mandibular molar (m2); (ii) 10 mesowear variables to each other and to DMTA for M1, M2, M3 and m2; and (iii) volumetric crown tissue loss to mesowear and DMTA for M2. As expected, many DMTA parameters correlated strongly with each other, supporting the application of reduced parameter sets in future studies. Correlation results showed only few DMTA parameters correlated with volumetric tissue change and even less so with mesowear variables, with no correlation between mesowear and volumetric tissue change. These findings caution against interpreting DMTA and mesowear patterns in terms of actual tissue removal until these dental wear processes can be better understood at microscopic and macroscopic levels.

scholarly journals Mechanisms and causes of wear in tooth enamel: implications for hominin diets

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (80) ◽  
pp. 20120923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter W. Lucas ◽  
Ridwaan Omar ◽  
Khaled Al-Fadhalah ◽  
Abdulwahab S. Almusallam ◽  
Amanda G. Henry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Plant Tissues ◽  
Dental Microwear ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Quartz Dust ◽  
Dental Microwear Texture Analysis ◽  
Particle Geometry

The wear of teeth is a major factor limiting mammalian lifespans in the wild. One method of describing worn surfaces, dental microwear texture analysis, has proved powerful for reconstructing the diets of extinct vertebrates, but has yielded unexpected results in early hominins. In particular, although australopiths exhibit derived craniodental features interpreted as adaptations for eating hard foods, most do not exhibit microwear signals indicative of this diet. However, no experiments have yet demonstrated the fundamental mechanisms and causes of this wear. Here, we report nanowear experiments where individual dust particles, phytoliths and enamel chips were slid across a flat enamel surface. Microwear features produced were influenced strongly by interacting mechanical properties and particle geometry. Quartz dust was a rigid abrasive, capable of fracturing and removing enamel pieces. By contrast, phytoliths and enamel chips deformed during sliding, forming U-shaped grooves or flat troughs in enamel, without tissue loss. Other plant tissues seem too soft to mark enamel, acting as particle transporters. We conclude that dust has overwhelming importance as a wear agent and that dietary signals preserved in dental microwear are indirect. Nanowear studies should resolve controversies over adaptive trends in mammals like enamel thickening or hypsodonty that delay functional dental loss.

Dental microwear texture analysis on extant and extinct sharks: Ante- or post-mortem tooth wear?

2021 ◽  
Vol 562 ◽  
pp. 110147
Author(s):  
Katrin Weber ◽  
Daniela E. Winkler ◽  
Thomas M. Kaiser ◽  
Živilė Žigaitė ◽  
Thomas Tütken
Keyword(s):  
Texture Analysis ◽  
Tooth Wear ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
Dental Microwear ◽  
Dental Microwear Texture Analysis

scholarly journals New model to explain tooth wear with implications for microwear formation and diet reconstruction

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (34) ◽  
pp. 10669-10672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Xia ◽  
Jing Zheng ◽  
Diaodiao Huang ◽  
Z. Ryan Tian ◽  
Lei Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tooth Wear ◽  
Dental Microwear ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
Diet Reconstruction ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Opal Phytoliths ◽  
Atomic Force ◽  
Human Enamel ◽  
Tissue Removal ◽  
Soft Particles

Paleoanthropologists and vertebrate paleontologists have for decades debated the etiology of tooth wear and its implications for understanding the diets of human ancestors and other extinct mammals. The debate has recently taken a twist, calling into question the efficacy of dental microwear to reveal diet. Some argue that endogenous abrasives in plants (opal phytoliths) are too soft to abrade enamel, and that tooth wear is caused principally by exogenous quartz grit on food. If so, variation in microwear among fossil species may relate more to habitat than diet. This has important implications for paleobiologists because microwear is a common proxy for diets of fossil species. Here we reexamine the notion that particles softer than enamel (e.g., silica phytoliths) do not wear teeth. We scored human enamel using a microfabrication instrument fitted with soft particles (aluminum and brass spheres) and an atomic force microscope (AFM) fitted with silica particles under fixed normal loads, sliding speeds, and spans. Resulting damage was measured by AFM, and morphology and composition of debris were determined by scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Enamel chips removed from the surface demonstrate that softer particles produce wear under conditions mimicking chewing. Previous models posited that such particles rub enamel and create ridges alongside indentations without tissue removal. We propose that although these models hold for deformable metal surfaces, enamel works differently. Hydroxyapatite crystallites are “glued” together by proteins, and tissue removal requires only that contact pressure be sufficient to break the bonds holding enamel together.

Distinguishing dietary indicators of pastoralists and agriculturists via dental microwear texture analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 014008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher W Schmidt ◽  
Jeremy J Beach ◽  
Jacqueline I McKinley ◽  
Jacqueline T Eng
Keyword(s):  
Texture Analysis ◽  
Dental Microwear ◽  
Dental Microwear Texture Analysis
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