Exploring dentoalveolar diseases and dietary habits in upper social classes from Italian Renaissance.

The relationship between dental diseases and dietary habits in ancient popula- tions has been largely investigated in the anthropological literature, providing significant insights for the reconstruction of past lifestyles. While most re- searchers have investigated the pattern of dentoalveolar pathologies in lower social classes, only a few reports concerning oral health conditions in upper social classes can be traced. The purpose of this research is the examination of dental conditions and their interplay with dietary habits and foodways in elite members belonging to three high-class samples dated back to the Ital- ian Renaissance. Dentoalveolar pathologies were investigated in the skeletal and mummified remains of the Guinigi family of Lucca (14th-17th centuries, Tuscany), the Medici family of Florence (16th-17th centuries, Tuscany), and the Saint Domenico series of Naples (16th-17th centuries, Campania), as rep- resentative of three important aristocratic classes of the Italian Renaissance and Early Modern Age. Human skeletal remains of 129 adult individuals and 1846 teeth were macroscopically examined for dentoalveolar diseases includ- ing caries, abscesses, antemortem tooth loss, periodontitis and calculus. The results indicate that the prevalence of all considered dentoalveolar diseases is very high, especially dental caries turns to be extraordinarily widespread, with a prevalence in the female subsample compared to the male counterpart. Males exhibit higher frequency for abscesses, while no appreciable differences have been observed in ante-mortem tooth loss. The Guinigi sample shows the highest frequencies of dentoalveolar diseases, particularly evident in the caries rate. These findings are probably related to changes in dietary habits during the transition from the medieval period to the Modern Age when cariogenic and refined foods were largely introduced and consumed in the diet.