Dental Caries in Deciduous Teeth of Nineteenth Century Araucanians

¹ Department of Embryology and Histology and Department of Pedodontics, School of Dentistry, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Department of Anthropology, School of Natural Sciences, and Museum, University of La Plata, La Plata, Argentina

The prevalence of dental caries was studied in skulls of nineteenth century Araucanian children from the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires and La Pampa. The results were contrasted with those from a contemporary sample of Caucasian children from the city of Buenos Aires. Significantly higher values were found in the Caucasian sample. The nature of the diet and the fluoride content of the water seemed to be more decisive than racial and genetic structure in explaining these differences.