当代水族男性的牙齿磨耗特点及其成因

Patterns of human dental wear and their causes: A male case of modern Shui nationalities in Southwest China

一直以来,有关人类牙齿磨耗的研究主要集中在年龄判定和生业方式比较方面。然而,很多研究因样本人群来源复杂、忽视个体牙齿磨耗的特殊性及缺乏足够的个人信息,很难进一步解释其牙齿磨耗特点的成因。本文基于对当代水族男性牙齿磨耗的记录和相关信息,通过梳理该人群牙齿磨耗的一般特点和特殊磨耗形式,探讨了有关影响该人群牙齿磨耗的可能因素。笔者发现,总体来说,该人群的牙齿磨耗较轻,牙齿磨耗水平与其年龄分布呈正相关关系,符合人类牙齿面随年龄增长而发生退行性生理磨耗的规律。牙齿磨耗等级在不同年龄中呈镶嵌式分布,某些个体存在越位磨耗现象。从本文的结果看,这些现象的产生除了退行性生理磨耗的原因外,还可能与口腔健康状况、饮食结构和少餐习惯等因素密切相关。

Over the years, studies of human dental wear concentrated on age determination and comparison of livelihood. However, much research has failed to explain scientifi cally the causes of human dental wear neglecting particularities of individual wear due to the lack of adequate personal information. This work focuses on the results of a fi eld survey of dental wear and diet of modern male Shui nationalities from Libo County, Guizhou Province. It was found that dental wear is, on the whole, lighter, and shows a positive correlation with age where occlusal wear degenerates with increasing age. Dental wear levels of the Shui nationalities are distributed in a mosaic fashion with different ages and show offside wear among some individuals. The author argues that the phenomenon of mosaic distribution and offside wear commonly exists in humans and may be associated with degenerative physiological attrition, oral health status, diet structure and meal habits.