About 50% of Scandinavians living in the Middle Ages suffered from tooth decay

Researchers from the Swedish University of Gothenburg told in a publication in PLoS One that the results of a study of the remains of medieval Scandinavians found in the necropolis at Varnheim Monastery showed that almost 50 per cent of them had at least one carious lesion, which in addition could be found only in adults.

For their study, the Swedish experts selected the remains of 171 people with fully or partially preserved dentition. Most of them, 133 individuals, had permanent teeth. The average age of the deceased was about 35 years.