“Therapeutic Cauterization of Periodontal Abscesses in a Prehistoric Northwest Coast Woman”, a Review Report by Mark Skinner, et. al

In the northwestern states of America, there have been archeological findings to indicate prehistoric practices that were very advanced for their time. Many of the adults in the native cultures were longer lived than would be expected. An interesting find in reference to these northwest natives is that most of their clothing required some kind of oral processing, and as a result, these seemingly healthy long-lived people had severe dental issues. These people were clearly advanced for their time. Why did they let their teeth get into such a horrible state?
Cavities and periodontitis are two fairly painful dental diseases, cavities being when the tooth is literally being destroyed, periodontitis being an inflammation. Periodontitis was the disease found in this specific case being reviewed. The skeleton was dated approximately 1090 BP and was found in the area of the Gulf Islands. This fifty-year old female was about 150 centimeters tall, just shy of five feet. This woman is believed to be of high social status, but she suffered from degenerative joint disease in addition to her case of periodontitis.
She had a number of periodontal abscesses, two on the left side of both jaws in addition to pockets of abscess around the first and second molars on the lower left. Evidence shows that the infection worked its way through the pulp to the alveolar depths. This was the point at which the teeth’s periodontal ligaments would have been destroyed.
That gives an idea of how much damage the disease caused. It’s not even possible for people in a pain-sensitive culture to imagine what that must have felt like. With all the advances of modern dentistry and the ‘brush twice a day’ mantra, cases of that severity would be rare in most parts of present-day America. Well, it would make sense that for the culture with the most extreme dental problems would have the most extreme dental solutions.
In many cultures, including our own, heat is a common method of pain relief. It’s not unusual to treat a stiff neck by placing a hot compress over the afflicted area. This is not a recent practice. Cultures from thousands of years ago also practiced these sorts of methods. And if heat works to relieve most pain, why wouldn’t it work on teeth?
Whether their methods were effective on this particular case is up to speculation. What is known is that the teeth were burned, or so Skinner, McLaren, and Carlson conclude. At several areas in the teeth, a discoloration process goes from dark brown to black, a characteristic that is very consistent with burning. This process is not unheard of in Native American cultures. Many different tribes treat such dental damage with heated bark or twigs. In this particular case, there was burned organic material found in the mouth, seemingly applied only to the abscessed teeth.
The authors speculate that since the teeth were so blackened and the abscess so extreme, the treatment was used as a final resort for finding a cure. The scientists conducting this study explained that it would have to be the last alternative for someone to willingly submit to this sort of therapy. But one must keep in mind the cultural differences. In our modern age, doctors and dentists are frequently visited for every little ailment that may arise. We are not used to long suffering pain such as that having been raised in a society where the cure comes in a bottle and symptoms will be relieved for up to 12 hours. It’s my own personal belief that a person living with the pain of those abscesses in her teeth would think nothing of the scorching brand.