Mini Review: Dental Pulp as a Source for Paleomicrobiology

• Main Authors: Tung Nguyen-Hieu, Gérard Aboudharam, Michel Drancourt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Association for Paleodontology 2011-06-01
• Series: Bulletin of the International Association for Paleodontology
• Subjects: Paleomicrobiology; Ancient Teeth; Dental Pulp; Microbial Detection
• Online Access: http://www.paleodontology.com/fileadmin/user_upload/bulletin/bulletin_11-1/Nguyen-Hieu_IAPO_Bulletin_11-1.pdf

Paleomicrobiology is a recent science. Paleomicrobiology describes the history of infectious diseases through research of ancient microbes. The dentistry with the tooth in particular has contributed to the progress of this science. The dental pulp is very well protected in the centre of the tooth. Molecular techniques such as “suicide PCR” and Multiple Spacer Typing have identified and characterized micro-organisms in the ancient samples. The detection of bacterial DNA from ancient dental pulp provided the scientific evidences for diagnosis of the infectious diseases of the past. The cooperation of paleomicrobiology and paleodontology also contributed the new knowledge to human pathology.