Intentionally Modified Teeth Among the Vikings: Was It Painful?

Abstract

Temporary adornments such as clothing and hairstyle, or more permanent markers such as tattoos, scarification, piercings, and dental modification have been used in the past (and to this day) to indicate group membership. These vary over time with political and economic circumstances to signal sex/gender, ethnicity, and ideology. They have been associated with mourning to demarcate marital status, as a mechanism to ward off illness, and as a fashion statement. Many techniques used are associated with considerable pain upon implementation, and sometimes for the remainder of one’s life. Such purposeful pain is a known consequence, at times even one of the goals of the process. This chapter looks at tooth modification, reviewing the diversity of techniques from simple scratching of the dental crown, staining, tooth removal, and inlays. Dental etchings have been found on Viking teeth from Sweden, Denmark, and England. Most are linear furrows found on the anterior surface of the maxillary teeth. Some are only visible in a certain light; others are so deep they reach the dentin. Alveolar infections, carious lesions, and/or pulp degeneration have been noted consequences in some cases.