No / Dental Enamel Hypoplasia has long been used as a common nonspecific stress indicator in teeth from archaeological samples. Most researchers report relatively minor linear and pitted hypoplastic defects on tooth crown surfaces. In this work we report a high prevalence and early age of onset of extensive enamel defects in deciduous and permanent molars in the subadults from the post-medieval cemetery of Broadgate, east central London. Analysis of the dentition of all 45 subadults from the cemetery, using both macroscopic and microscopic methods, reveals disturbed cusp patterns and pitted, abnormal and arrested enamel formation. Forty-one individuals from this group (93.2%) showed some evidence of enamel hypoplasia, 28 of them showing moderate or extensive lesions of molars, deciduous or permanent (63.6% of the sample). Scanning Electron Microscope images reveal many molars with grossly deformed cuspal architecture, multiple extra cusps and large areas of exposed Tomes' process pits, where the ameloblasts have abruptly ceased matrix production, well before normal completion. This indented, rough and poorly mineralized surface facilitates both bacterial adhesion and tooth wear, and when such teeth erupt fully into the mouth they are likely to wear and decay rapidly. We suggest that this complex combination of pitted and plane-form lesions, combined with disruption of cusp pattern and the formation of multiple small cusps, should henceforth be identified as Cuspal Enamel Hypoplasia.

No / This was to study an archaeological population of subadult teeth in 17th and 18th century skeletal material from a London (England) cemetery for enamel defects including molar-incisor-hypomineralisation (MIH).Methods: Dentitions of 45 sub-adults were examined using standard macroscopic methods and systematically recorded. A total of 557 teeth were examined with a *5 lens and photographed. Ages of the individuals were estimated from their dental crown and root development stages and not from charts that combine tooth eruption with development stages. The dental age of the individual and the approximate age of onset of enamel defects was then calculated on the basis of the chronological sequence of incremental deposition and calcification of the enamel matrix. Affected enamel was graded macroscopically as: - Mild: <30% of the tooth¿s enamel surface area visibly disrupted (this encompasses the entire range reported in most other studies), Moderate: 31-49% of the tooth's enamel surface area visibly disrupted and Severe: >50% of the tooth's enamel surface area visibly disrupted. Results: Of the total number of individuals 41 (93.2%) showed signs of enamel developmental dysplasia or MIH, 28 of them showing moderate or severe lesions of molars, primary or permanent (63.6% of the sample). Incisors and canines, though surviving much less often, showed episodes of linear hypoplasia. Conclusion:The extensive lesions seen on many of the molars displayed cuspal enamel hypoplasia (CEH). Many of these teeth also exhibited Molar Incisal Hypomineralisation (MIH).