ABSTRACT
Dental caries As noted above, dental caries is symptomatic of carbohydrate consumption in human populations. In this regard, the presence of carious lesions in appreciable frequencies has been used to document the relative degree of dependence on cariogenic foods, such as maize in the Eastern Woodlands of North America (Milner, 1984; Larsen et al., 1991) and on agriculture generally (Turner, 1979). Examination of the Tutu series reveals the presence of a moderately high frequency of carious lesions. Of the adults, 65.2 percent have at least one carious tooth. Only 2 juveniles of 12 have carious teeth (16.6%). The total carious lesion frequency for permanent teeth is 9.3 percent (Table 8.1). For the deciduous teeth in functional occlusion (n=81), 4.9 percent are carious. Analysis of individuals affected and total teeth affected (incisors + canines + premolars + molars) reveals that females have more carious lesions than males. In females, 64.3 percent of individuals and 9.9 percent of teeth are affected, whereas 57.1 percent of individuals and 7.9 percent of teeth are affected in males. Statistical (chi2) treatment of female vs male frequency of teeth affected indicates that the difference is not statistically significant (p > 0.05).
