Paleopathology in Australopithecus africanus: A suggested case of a 3‐million‐year‐old prepubertal periodontitis

Dados Bibliográficos

AUTOR(ES) Ugo Ripamonti
ANO 1988
TIPO Article
PERIÓDICO American Journal of Physical Anthropology
ISSN 0002-9483
E-ISSN 1096-8644
EDITORA John Wiley and Sons Inc
DOI 10.1002/ajpa.1330760208
CITAÇÕES 8
ADICIONADO EM 2025-08-18
MD5 7af8c69711c1990293ea2cc0fdf0460a
FORMATO PDF

Resumo

The fossil remains of a juvenile Australopithecus africanus specimen from Sterkfontein Member 4 temporally confined on faunal grounds to 2.5–3.0 million years before the present (Myr B.P.) show pathological alterations of the periodontal alveolar process consistent with a case of prepubertal periodontitis. This diagnosis is based on macroscopic features of alveolar bone loss distribution, pattern of periodontal bone destruction, migration of the affected deciduous molars, and on stereomicroscopic and scanning electron microscopic evidence of alveolar bone destruction. Differential diagnoses and pathological exclusions are discussed in terms of localized patterns of periodontal bone destruction and presumptive survival rate. The reported case appears to be the first detailed description of a recognized disease in early hominid evolution.

Subocclusal morphology and alveolar process relationships of hominid gnathic elements from the Hadar formation: 1974–1977 collections

(1982)

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