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EXCERPT:
A back molar found in a Siberian cave is believed to be the oldest evidence of dental treatment. About 59,000 years ago, someone carefully drilled a cavity in the tooth to ease a toothache.
It was a Neanderthal who had done it. The tooth, Chagyrskaya 64, is a lower left second molar recovered from Chagyrskaya Cave in the Russian Altai Mountains. A huge, odd-shaped cavity extends to the almost complete occlusal floor of the tooth crown, reaching well into the pulp chamber.
The researchers report in the May 13 issue of PLOS One that this concavity cannot be explained by decay, wear, or geological processes alone. Rather, it was made with a small, pointed stone tool to treat severe dental decay.
