Mechanisms and causes of wear in tooth enamel: implications for hominin diets

Journal of the Royal Society Interface - Tập 10 Số 80 - Trang 20120923 - 2013
Peter W. Lucas1, Ridwaan Omar2, Khaled J. Al‐Fadhalah3, Abdulwahab S. Almusallam4, Amanda G. Henry5, Shaji Michael6, Lidia A. Thai6, Jörg Watzke5, David S. Strait7, A.G. Atkins8
1Department of Bioclinical Sciences, Kuwait University, PO Box 24923, Safat 13110, Kuwait
2Department of Restorative Sciences, Kuwait University, PO Box 24923, Safat 13110, Kuwait
3Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Petroleum, Kuwait University, PO Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait
4Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Petroleum, Kuwait University, PO Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait
5Plant Foods in Hominin Dietary Ecology Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany
6Nanotechnology Research Facility, College of Engineering and Petroleum, Kuwait University, PO Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait
7Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, Albany, NY 12222, USA
8School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 219, Reading RG6 6AW, UK

Tóm tắt

The wear of teeth is a major factor limiting mammalian lifespans in the wild. One method of describing worn surfaces, dental microwear texture analysis, has proved powerful for reconstructing the diets of extinct vertebrates, but has yielded unexpected results in early hominins. In particular, although australopiths exhibit derived craniodental features interpreted as adaptations for eating hard foods, most do not exhibit microwear signals indicative of this diet. However, no experiments have yet demonstrated the fundamental mechanisms and causes of this wear. Here, we report nanowear experiments where individual dust particles, phytoliths and enamel chips were slid across a flat enamel surface. Microwear features produced were influenced strongly by interacting mechanical properties and particle geometry. Quartz dust was a rigid abrasive, capable of fracturing and removing enamel pieces. By contrast, phytoliths and enamel chips deformed during sliding, forming U-shaped grooves or flat troughs in enamel, without tissue loss. Other plant tissues seem too soft to mark enamel, acting as particle transporters. We conclude that dust has overwhelming importance as a wear agent and that dietary signals preserved in dental microwear are indirect. Nanowear studies should resolve controversies over adaptive trends in mammals like enamel thickening or hypsodonty that delay functional dental loss.

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Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Tập 10 Số 80

20120923

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