Vikings have played an of import role in popular culture over the last decade . Increasingly , we are learn intricate details about the lives of these seafaring people that reveal them to be far more complex and interesting than simpleinvading warrior . Now researchers have added to this textured image by examining their dental health , and it seems the Vikings actually had surprisingly advanceddentistry .

The young study published by a squad from the University of Gothenburg ’s Institute of Odontology , in quislingism with an osteologer from the Västergötland Museum , examined 3,293 teeth from 171 individuals who lived in Sweden during theViking Age .

The Varnhem archaeological site , situate in Västergötland , has witnessed panoptic archeological site and offers a veritable hoarded wealth trove of information about Viking and medieval surroundings . This is because it contain thousands of graves that date back to the 10th and 12th hundred CE . Crucially , the underframe and teeth of those swallow at the land site have been remarkably well uphold .

The squad subjected the ancient specimen to clinical examination using standard odontology tools and X - rays . The outcome bear witness that 49 percent of the Viking universe had one or more caries ( cavity ) and that 13 pct of the adult teeth had dental caries that extended to the root . However , children with milk teeth , or with a premix of Milk River and adult tooth , were entirely caries - gratuitous .

The squad also set up that tooth loss was common among adults , who lose around 6 percent of their tooth on mean – excludingwisdom teeth – over their lifetimes . And , as you may imagine , the risk oftooth lossincreased with historic period .

Ultimately , it seems toothache , tooth loss , and caries were common issuing for Viking people at Varnhem . But the researchers also found that this population had interesting ways to look after their teeth , and they were not unalike to today ’s treatments .

“ There were several sign of the zodiac that the Vikings had modified their tooth , let in evidence of using toothpick , filing front teeth , and even dental treatment of teeth with infection , ” Carolina Bertilsson , a dentist and Associate Researcher , and the field ’s first author , said in astatement .

One of the more advanced procedures practiced among the Varnhem population was the use of fillings in molars . The squad found teeth that had filled holes in them that went from the crown into thepulp , a muckle of connective tissue inside the tooth . This , the team think , was probably an endeavor to relieve press and to alleviate severetoothachecaused by transmission .

“ This is very exciting to see , and not unlike the dental treatments we take out today when we drill into infected tooth . The Vikings seem to have had knowledge about teeth , but we do n’t experience whether they did these procedures themselves or had help , ” Bertilsson added .

“ This survey provide unexampled penetration into Viking unwritten wellness , and indicates that teeth were significant in Varnhem ’s Viking civilisation . It also suggest that odontology in the Viking Age was probably more sophisticated than antecedently thought . ”

The survey is published inPLOS ONE .