Dental enamel defects related to famine stress in contemporary Chinese populations: A bioanthropological study

Dental enamel defects have long been related to childhood malnutrition and diseases, and are employed as an indicator of nutritional stress among prehistoric, historic and contemporary populations. While this indicator has been widely used in anthropological studies among skeletal populations, the validity of this indicator has not been well tested among living populations.; This bio-anthropological study investigated the relationship between dental enamel defects and nutritional stress caused by the historical famine in China (1959-1961) among contemporary Chinese. Based on data from a dental study in a substantial sample including 3,014 subjects from both rural and urban China, and data of famine stress from historical sources, four hypotheses addressing the relationship between enamel defects and nutritional stress were formulated and tested.; The major findings of this study are as follows: Famine stress raised linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) prevalence significantly in the birth cohorts having their teeth developed during famine years, therefore a causal link between nutritional stress and formation of LEH suggested by previous studies is confirmed; The mandibular canine has the highest prevalence of LEH, and the maxillary central incisor appears to be the most sensitive tooth to nutritional stress in terms of ameloblastic disruption; Rural subjects have significantly higher LEH prevalence than urban subjects possibly due to poorer nutritional and living conditions in rural areas; Males have higher LEH prevalence than females, and female biological buffering to environmental stress and possible cultural practices of daughter neglect in contemporary Chinese may contribute to this difference.