Linear Enamel Hypoplasia (LEH) is a dental defect caused by periods of enamel deficiency, which occur during the formation of permanent teeth in early childhood (Wood, 1996). LEH in permanent teeth is usually the result of episodic childhood disease or malnutrition that occurs roughly within the first six or seven years of life (Maclellan, 2005).
Once the mature tooth has erupted, LEH typically presents itself as transverse striations or bands near the crown of the tooth, but it can also manifest as small pits of reduced thickness in the tooth’s enamel (Wood, 1996).
The emergence of deciduous and permanent teeth occurs at a known rate, and by measuring the distance between the LEH and the cement-enamel junction (CEJ; where the enamel covered crown meets the cementum covered root), the age at which specific episodes of illness occurred can be determined (Maclellan, 2005).
While the skeletal remains of children are generally underrepresented in the archaeological record, studying LEH in adult remains can help capture and reconstruct the nature of childhood – of the stressors that acted upon their bodies and their social circumstances – in a particular area at a particular time (Maclellan, 2005).
photo source (otisarchives1)
Maclellan, E. (2005). Linear enamel hypoplasia: What can it say about the condition of childhood?. Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology, 13(1), 40-52. Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/totem/vol13/iss1/7
Wood, L. (1996). Frequency and chronological distribution of linear enamel hypoplasia in a north american colonial skeletal sample. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 100, 247-259. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199609)101:1<135::AID-AJPA10>3.0.CO;2-1