Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of African postgraduate studies - Department of Anthropology

Background although dental calculus has destructive effects on gingival health causing periodontal diseases, but nowadays there is a great importance of dental calculus; especially archeological dental calculus as a source of dietary information. Aim of the study is to assess the prevalence of dental calculus of Egyptian population and Egyptian Nubians, studying composition of dental calculus in relation to diet, and investigating the effect of cultural habits on dental calculus formation and composition. Methods data collected using questionnaires, and by the collection of dental calculus samples from both Egyptians and Nubians and these samples analyzed using SEM-EDX. Results showed that there is a difference in dental calculus prevalence between both study groups, and that cultural habits affect dental calculus formation rate, also there is a correlation between diet and dental calculus formation. On the other hand, the dental calculus composition showed no marked difference between the two studied groups

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