Figure 21: Micrograph of sample EIN-06. As pathologies will change the physico-chemical and/or microstructural characteristics of teeth, these may also affect the pattern of microbial attack. Here, a circular deformation is visible within the dentine; a pulp stone. These may arise as an age change or accompany inflammatory or degenerative changes in the pulp. Calcification of the pulp results in the formation of discrete, approximately circular mineralised masses which may later be incorporated into the dentine (Marsland and Browne 1975). The microbial tunnelling can be seen to follow the circular lamellar microstructure of the imbedded pulp stone.
Figure 21

Internet Archaeology is an open access journal based in the Department of Archaeology, University of York. Except where otherwise noted, content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY) Unported licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that attribution to the author(s), the title of the work, the Internet Archaeology journal and the relevant URL/DOI are given.

Terms and Conditions | Legal Statements | Privacy Policy | Cookies Policy | Citing Internet Archaeology

Internet Archaeology content is preserved for the long term with the Archaeology Data Service. Help sustain and support open access publication by donating to our Open Access Archaeology Fund.