The ‘caries correction factor’: A new method of calibrating dental caries rates to compensate for antemortem loss of teeth

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Abstract
Dental caries rates are frequently based exclusively upon the number of carious teeth observed in a human skeletal series. However, a portion of the teeth lost antemortem will be lost because of severe carious decay, a factor not considered by many investigators. This paper reviews and critiques earlier attempts to adjust dental caries rates to account for antemortem loss of teeth, and proposes a new ‘caries correction factor’ that is population specific, requires no assumptions, and is sensitive to the temporal and ecogeographical context of a skeletal series.An example of how to apply this caries correction factor is provided using new data from the Bronze Age site of Harappa in northern Pakistan. Its value in dental palaeopathology is reviewed with two recent studies of dental caries in the Arabian Gulf, and concludes with a consideration of its possible application to non‐human primates.