DENTAL DISEASE OF NEOLITHIC AGE SKULLS EXCAVATED IN SHAANXI PROVINCE

<正> Studying the teeth of the ancients helpsacquaint us with the evolution of oral diseases.The Neolithic Age skeleton remains excavatedin Baoji and Huaxian are the earliest onesexcavated in batches up to present in China.Of the 948 teeth studied,186(19.62%)arediseased teeth.The major dental diseases arecaries and periodontoclasia.The caries rate is3.38% and periodontoclasia rate 11.39%.Alveolarabscess caused by abrasion is 1.69%.Premortemloss of teeth is 6.12%.There seems to be a close relationship be-tween diet and caries.Periodontoclasia appearsearlier than caries and does not obviouslyparallel the development of human society.Caries become common in China with the deve-lopment of agricultural cultivation settlementsand the use of grain as a dietary staple duringthe Neolithic Age Yangshao Culture 5,000-6,000years ago.