On a long drive this week, I heard three different reports on NPR about a Neanderthal tooth that has been discovered with a deliberately-drilled hole in it. The tooth also shows evidence that it was used for chewing after the hole was drilled! A bioarchaeologist described the tooth and the stone drill used to make the hole, which tells us that Neanderthals not only had the skills, but the cooperation and trust to perform such surgery. A modern dentist said that the problem was probably terrible pain from infection and swelling. He said it would have taken at least an hour to painfully drill into the tooth, but the patient must have understood the relief to come afterward. The tooth, from a cave in Siberia, was dated to 59,000 years ago. We don't know what, if any, pain relief was available to Neanderthals.
The drilled hole extends into the tooth pulp, which would have destroyed the nerve and is somewhat analogous to a root canal. In most early human dentistry, the normal cure would have been to pull the tooth. Read about the tooth and what it tells us at NPR.
(Image credit: Zubova et al./PLOS One)
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