Applying dental microwear texture analysis to the living: Challenges and prospects

Objectives: The food that people and animals consume leaves microscopic traces on teeth in predictable ways, and analyses of these markings—known as dental microwear analyses—allow us to reverse engineer the characteristics of diet. However, the microwear features of modern human diets are most often interpreted through the lens of ethnographic records. Given the subtle variation within human diets when compared to other species, we need better models of how foods and processing techniques produce marks on teeth. Here, we report on the second study to target the occlusal surface microwear of living human populations, and the first to target populations other than foragers. Methods: We collected 150 dental impressions from five Kenyan communities: El Molo, Turkana (Kerio), Luhya (Webuye), Luhya (Port Victoria), and Luo (Port Victoria), representing a range of subsistence strategies and associated staple diets—fishing, pastoralism, and agriculture. Our results suggest that the occlusal microwear of these groups records differences in diet. However, biofilm obscured most of the molds obtained despite the steps taken to remove it, resulting in only 38 usable surfaces. Results: Due to the biofilm problem and final sample size, the analysis did not have enough power to demonstrate the differences observed statistically. The results and problems encountered are here explained. Conclusions: Considering that in vivo studies of dental microwear texture analysis have the potential to increase our understanding of the association between patterns of dental microwear and complex, mixed human diets, resolution of the current pitfalls of the technique is critical.