Dental Health in Viking Age Icelanders

By Svend Richter and S.T. Eliasson

Bulletin of the International Association for Paleodontology, Vol. 2:2 (2008)

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to evaluate dental health in Iceland 1000 years ago. Fifty-one skulls were available for research. There were 1001 teeth present in the 51 available skeletons. There was significantly more tooth wear in the age group 36 years and older (p<0.05), than in the 18-to-35-year-old age group but no significant difference between sexes. The highest rate of tooth wear was found in first molars, and the lowest in third molars. Heavy tooth wear can be explained by consumption of acidic drinks and food in addition to coarse diet. The main cause of the wear was most likely coarse and rough diet, dried fish and meat.

Excerpt: Heavy tooth wear can be explained by consumption of acidic drinks and food in addition to coarse diet. The main cause of the wear was most likely coarse and rough diet, dried fish and meat. Ground grain was of minor importance. Mixture of acidic whey and water, named “Mysa”, was a daily thirst quencher in Iceland until the mid 20th century. In addition, traditional Icelandic food was preserved in acidic whey – and still is. Teeth were covered with calculus. Scurvy was a common disease. The Sagas describe people with blood at the corners of the mouth, probably from bleeding gums. Prevalence of tori was much higher than in our modern population, of which 39,5 % comprised torus palatinus and 50% torus mandibularis. One criteria of periodontal condition is to rate the loss of alveolar bone i.e. the CEJ-ABC distance. The cause of a long CEJ-ABC distance is not always a periodontal disease. Part of the explanation is eruption of teeth to compensate the tooth wear. Root abscesses were most common in first molars which are also the teeth with highest rate of dental wear.


The prevalence of caries was much lower than in the southern part of the continent at that time, were there was more access to sugar through vegetable and fruits. The steep rise in prevalence of caries in Western countries around the year1000 AD is due to the sudden access to sugarcane. A change in diet arose after the middle of the 19th century, and probably correlated with the introduction of more refined sugars and flours, making tooth decay a common disease in Iceland. The ground tooth 21 in skeleton ÞSK 17, a female aged between 36 and 45 years, is probably the first case in cosmetic dentistry in Icelandic history.

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