The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-11
DENTISTRY OF MEXICAN INDIAN.
Teeth Cut Bear Trap Fashion and Liber-
ally Plugged with Iron.


From the Mexican Herald.
Leopold Batres. national cura tor Of
Antiquities, has made an interesting
present to his friend, DR.. HOWE, the
dentist.
1t consists of some articles discovered
| in one of the tOmhS at Militia. The
articles in question are a portion of Il
skull, a glass bead, a little copper bell
Just like those which are at this
day tied around the necks of kittens,
and an upper left bicuspd tooth with
a circular incrustation of pyrites of
iron in front. all from the same skele-
ton.
1t is no new fact that some of the
aboriginal people of Mexico wore orna-
ments or incrustations in their teeth
Alfredo Chavero possessed front tooth
taken from a tomb at Palenque, in the
middle Of which a green stone is set.
rites, when they were new and the sui
Sometimes the inCrustations were of
gold. and the demonstrations of iron py-
phur in them was fresh, undoubtedly
shone like gold.
There is reason to suppose that only
the eight front upper teeth We're in
crusted, al any rate as a rule. for the
second bicuspid given by Mr. Batres
to Dr. Jose j. Rojo, the young Mexican
dentist in Dr.. Howes office, and also
ltNtD lltHl Illt Mltli ltlii|l, Is WILL
out any such fncrustation.
On the other hand, a canine, given
by Mr.. Ratres to DR.. RojO, has the in
Crustation. and also affords evidence
that these ornaments were made dur
ing life and not after death. The pres
ent condition of the tooth shows that
the incruStati0n had reached the nerve
cavity and destroyed the life of the
tooth, a process that argues life in the
Il
occur after death. the microbes or or
ganiSms which cause decay dying with
The individual.
1t is evident from the specimen pos
soSsed by DR.. Rojo that they must have
caused suffering to those who used
them and, therefore, it is inferred that
The fashion or custom which prescribed
them must have had a strong social or
religious sanction.
Another custom revealed by the teeth
found in these prehistoric 'tombs is that
of notching the teeth SO as to form
dovetailing indentations. Each contigu-
Gus pair of upper front teeth We're
notched for a certain distance upward
and sideways, so as TO bear resent
hlance to hattlementS turned upside
down. The lower teeth were alternately
cut off and cleft of their natural size,
50 as to fit in with the notches above.
! III blflel "bfNS- q lbWef tOOtn situated
| below a cavity above was left of its
| natural size and the adjoining tooth
was cut off for some distance.
or course, the upper and lower teeth
thus treated would not meet at once,
but it is fact well known to dentists
that if an upper tooth is cut off the cor
responding lower tooth will gradually
grow up to it and vice versa. if a lower
tooth is sawed off the CORES ponding up
per tooth will grow down to it. There
fore, in the course of time, the notched
teeth Of these prehistoric Indians fitted
into each other exactly, and must have
given them peculiarly firm grip upon
anything they got between their teeth
The fragment of skull which Dr.
| Howe has. as well as the tooth, is col
ored red, which must have resulted frCm
their being dipped in mercury. This
was naturally poSt-mOrtem opera ton.
The cavity i'll the tooth in which the
lncruStation of iron pyritc is insert d
ut is loose now, and easily comes QUO
is perfectly circular and symmetrical. It
argues good instruments and skillfuI
| Workmanship. The instruments used
were of tempered copper, the art of pro-
ducing which has been lost.