Oral health of Domaniç vaulted monumental tomb skeletons

Teeth are valuable sources of information about individuals and populations. The composition of the foods consumed by populations can be determined with the examination of the teeth. With the development of civilizations, status differences have emerged in societies. Therefore, accessing the food has also changed. Nutritional differences between populations cause differences in dietary and health status. The reasons of these differences were tried to be understood by analyzing the dental pathologies and comparing them with the Ancient Anatolian Societies. This study was carried out by using the skeletal materials uncovered in the rescue excavation carried out in 2016 in the monumental tomb building, located in the Hisar Neighborhood of the Domaniç district of Kütahya province. Although the construction of the vaulted tomb was thought to be the 2nd century, there was no clear conclusion about when the burial was made. Skeletons were not in the insitu position because they were stacked. A total of 83 individuals, including 3 infants, 10 children and 70 adults, were identified by the paleoanthropological examination of skeletons considered to belong to the Roman Period in the grave. A total of 506 permanent teeth (2 impacted teeth, 6 root fractures, 8 teeth were not included in the study) belonging to these individuals were examined to obtain information about the oral and dental health of the society. In this study; caries, abscess, tooth wear, periodontal diseases, calculus, hypoplasia and antemortem tooth loss (AMTL) ratios were determined and the results were compared with the averages of Ancient Anatolian Societies. As a result of dental analysis; the caries is 19,57 % (uncorrected), the abscess is 2,78 %, periodontal is about 67,33 %, calculus is almost 35,38 %, hypoplasia is approximately 17,19 %, AMTL is about 13,39 %. On the other hand, the average of tooth wear is about 3-4 degrees. When the dental pathologies are evaluated, it is thought that the population is more similar to the agriculture-based communities, and foods containing high carbohydrate that have been processed caused the formation of cavities in a certain extent. The low degree of wear supports the feeding with soft foods. The low incidence and severity of hypoplasia indicate that individuals in the Monumental Tomb were less exposed to physiological stress during their early childhood. When the oral and dental health data are analyzed in a whole, it is possible to conclude that the socio-economic structures of the people in the tomb were more favorable than the environment they lived in, and therefore the nutrition conditions were better than the other Ancient Anatolian Communities.