Dental caries prevalance in a late 19th to early 20th century cemetery in San Jose, California

The purpose of this study is to examine dental caries prevalence from an historic hospital cemetery located in Santa Clara, California. The Santa Clara Valley Medical Center discovered a forgotten cemetery originally dating to the late 19th century during construction work in early 2012 (Marquez and Rossi 2012). Dental caries prevalence was examined within this population in order to gain an understanding of the general dental health of individuals from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. My research hypotheses are: 1) There will be a similarly high occurrence of dental caries within this population as is seen in other populations from the same time period due to a cariogenic diet and the lack of preventative dental hygiene practices (Buzon et al. 2005; Corbett and Moore 1976; Nystrom 2013; Saunders et al. 1997; Wasterlain et al. 2009; Wols and Baker 2004); 2) Females will have a higher dental caries prevalence than males (Larsen 1983; Larsen et. al 1991; Lukacs 2008; Ubelaker et al. 2009; Walter et al. 2016); 3) There will be little evidence of dental work since most of these individuals were likely of a low socioeconomic status (Buzon et al. 2005; Little et al. 1992; Wasterlain et al. 2009). A total of 146 individuals were used for this study. Results indicated 80.8% of the sample population had at least one dental caries present. Out of the total amount of teeth observed, 15% of them were carious. Most of the statistical analysis revealed no significant differences between dental caries prevalence and sex, age group, tooth class, and tooth type. This research is significant because it provides information about general dental health from a historical population in California. This research contributes to the literature of how dental caries have changed over time due to social, environmental, and dietary factors.