Modeling Oral Health in the Loretto Bioarchaeology Project
Author(s): Ian Soukup
Year: 2025
Summary
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
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The 19<sup>th</sup> and early 20<sup>th</sup> centuries generated significant developments in dentistry as the field professionalized and new treatments and care regimes were promoted across the US. However, the extent to which the public engaged with these developments is less well-known. This project examines changes in dental health and care over time in a religious community in Colorado. The Loretto Bioarchaeology Project studies the Sisters of Loretto, a Catholic order of women educators in Denver who died between 1870 and 1961. With permission of the descendant Loretto Community, skeletal and dental data were collected from 55 women whose remains were disinterred and relocated due to a development project. With this data, we developed metrics for dental and periodontal health based on percentage of uncompromised teeth and tooth socket health, and modeled dental disease as a function of age. Residuals of these models control for the progressive nature of dental disease and reveal general temporal trends of dental health. The results show a significant improvement in oral health over time when controlling for age at death and considering potential dietary changes (using dental wear as a proxy). We argue that these differences demonstrate changing dental care practices in the urbanizing West.
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Cite this Record
Modeling Oral Health in the Loretto Bioarchaeology Project. Ian Soukup. Presented at The 90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2025 ( tDAR id: 511003)
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Abstract Id(s): 53275