Even Vikings can’t escape the dentist. Study reveals their ‘complex’ oral procedures

As it turns out, even the now long-dead Vikings couldn’t escape a trip to the dentist.

After spending around 1,000 years in the ground, the skeletal remains of over 100 Swedish Vikings were exhumed and examined by a dentist, who found ample evidence of decay and disease.

Intriguingly, signs of “complex” oral procedures as well as mysterious markings were also discovered, according to a study published Dec. 13 in the journal PLOS One.

These discoveries “provide a unique understanding of life in historical times,” researchers said.

The remains were unearthed from a church cemetery in Skara, located about 200 miles southwest of Stockholm. The graves — which date to the 10th through 12th centuries — were filled with Christian Vikings who once dwelled in a nearby farming community.

Aided by undergraduate dental students, a dentist analyzed 3,293 teeth from 171 individuals, some of which were also subjected to X-rays.

Like many patients at the dentist today, the exhumed Vikings’ oral hygiene was found wanting.

Nearly half of the individuals examined, 49%, had one or more carious lesions, which are holes that form in teeth.

Sixty-two percent of the adult Vikings had at least one of these lesions, while none of the children had them, researchers said.

Interestingly, this finding indicates young Vikings had better oral hygiene than their living descendants, Carolina Bertilsson, one of the study’s authors, told McClatchy News in an email.

“Today around 20% of Swedish 6-year-olds have or have had at least one cavity (and Sweden has one of the lowest caries rates in the world),” Bertilsson said, adding that consumption of “highly processed carbohydrates and sugar” likely plays a role.

Caries are also known as tooth decay or cavities.

Additionally, it appears some Vikings tried to combat bad oral hygiene as signs of abrasion — likely caused by toothpicks — were found in several instances.

Evidence of more advanced oral procedures was also discovered.

“There were two cases where findings on the mandibular first molars indicated that an opening and widening of the pulpal chamber had been created, most likely in an attempt to relieve pain,” researchers said.

One individual, a middle-aged male, also had mysterious horizontal lines filed into his front teeth, a phenomenon that has been seen in other Viking remains as well as on remains in England, Denmark and Egypt.

“It is not known why they did this, but it must have had some cultural importance,” Bertilsson said.

“It is suggested to have been a marker of identity,” researchers said.

The Vikings in this community mainly drank beer and ate an abundance of starchy foods, including wheat and barley. It’s likely this diet, combined with poor oral hygiene, contributed to high levels of dental disease.

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