Severidad de caries y pérdida de dientes de una población pre-Hispánica del norte de Chile

the aim of this study was to determine the severity of dental caries and tooth loss in a sample of 139 human remains of the atacama culture (500 ad) in san pedro de atacama, northern chile. a clinical examination was performed on each remain by a calibrated examiner. the number of present and missing teeth in pre-and post-mortem stages and the number of carious lesions were recorded. the dmt index (filled = 0) was calculated. statistical analysis included a description of frequency and calculation of statistical dispersion and central tendency for continuous variables. the results reveal a dmt of 17.14 with an average of 3.93 carious lesions and 13.2 teeth lost in life. the oral health situation of the studied population presented severe damage, high rate of tooth loss and dmt scores.