Ancient oral biome points to overall health
Images of skulls from Japanese museum collections. Top row shows two individual with blackened teeth. Bottom row shows individuals who did not have blackened teeth.
Image: Ken-ichi Shinoda, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan
Ancient oral biome points to overall health
A ndrea Elyse Messer
March 25, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. When a baby puts something from the floor in their mouth, we panic, but the mouth already contains thousands of bacteria. Now a team of researchers is looking at archaeological remains for an example of how Japanese oral biomes have changed and what they say about the people who owned those mouths and teeth.