- Jean MacIntosh Turfa with Marshall J. Becker –
The use of these Etruscan pontics for aesthetic purposes can be inferred through
two distinct lines of evidence, both relating to the study of the dental health of the
population. The review below summarizes the evidence for the pattern of dental loss that
was common in ancient Etruria. Dental health was relatively good until later middle
age. By age 50 the loss of fi rst molars to extensive decay was not uncommon, with the
second and third molars, and often second premolars, commonly following. Despite
this progressive decay and loss in advanced age, and correlated periodontal disease, the
loss of the anterior teeth was rare other than in individuals who lived to ages beyond
70 or 75. Even arthritic “little old ladies” (in Faliscan Narce) usually retained their
own teeth past age 65 (cf. Becker 1993A). Thus it seems likely that the gold pontics
that attract our interest were intended for use by people who did not lose one or both
central incisors through natural, disease induced loss. We may infer that deliberate and
culturally normative tooth evulsion, so widely practiced in cultures around the world,
was responsible for the loss (Becker 1995B, 1995C, 2002A).
A second factor in understanding the full process through which healthy, living teeth
were deliberately removed and replaced by false teeth was revealed through the study
of Etruscan skeletal biology (Becker 1999C). The metric data from studies of ancient
dentition indicate that tooth size, and body size in general, is strongly correlated with the
biology of sex (Becker 2005). Many of the known Etruscan dental appliances now have
spurious teeth with them, or have been placed in unrelated skulls where they mislead
the unwary evaluator. By measuring the few surviving teeth defi nitely associated with
these appliances and by measuring the sizes of the sockets in the appliances themselves,
we fi nd that all the dimensions of the original teeth fall well within the range of small
tooth sizes expected for Etruscan women. The ornamental replacement of the teeth of these
women, teeth that had been ritually removed,^5 enabled the elite Etruscans to continue
a cultural tradition for upper-class women as well as to display their wealth (Becker
1998B, 2002C).
Several of the gold dental appliances appear to have had true medical functions.
These functional prostheses seem to date from a later period in the era of gold pontics,
perhaps refl ecting Roman pragmatism in adopting this concept for specifi c medical uses.
Roman variations on Etruscan pontics are mentioned by a number of classical authors.
In addition, the use of these pontics in mortuary contexts was governed by Roman law.^6
These functional examples are of two distinct types. One variety consists of a series of
gold rings that have been cold-welded together in the Etruscan fashion and used both
to hold replacement (artifi cial) teeth and to stabilize natural teeth that had become loose
(Becker 1996). A second variety of functional appliance consists of a simple, elongate
oval band used only to stabilize loose teeth. These long bands also may have served as
ornamentation.
A completely separate and somewhat later tradition in dental prostheses has been
identifi ed from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. “Phoenician” dental appliances
were fashioned from gold or silver (Becker 1997), and perhaps should be called Levantine
or Near Eastern in type. The later date (Roman era) and purely functional aspects of
these wire prostheses indicate a completely independent tradition. This tradition of
wiring loose teeth to stabilize them continued to be used in dental medicine well into
the twentieth century.
Dental problems, abscesses and gum disease contributed signifi cantly to the ill health,
and even the death of many ancient sufferers in various parts of the world. This has been