Back to the present

‘Time may change me, but I can’t trace time' ‘Changes’. David Bowie, 1972.

I have suspected that the volume of articles published on Molar Incisor Hypomineralization (MIH) has been increasing, and this has been corroborated by a statement in a recent paper that this problem was more common than previously thought.¹ On the other hand, the improved resources said to be given to prevention and the improvements in oral hygiene as a result of improved patient/parental awareness might mean that, in the past, teeth which were affected by MIH became grossly carious and were extracted, thereby being lost to further examination and comment. It was therefore a surprise to read a paper by Martin Curzon and colleagues who provided evidence of MIH being present in teeth in a skull which dated back to medieval times.¹ This skull, thought to be that of Lady Eleanor Talbot (c1438–1468), who ended her life as a Carmelite nun, exhibited enamel defects in the 36/46 molar teeth, as well as enamel striations of permanent anterior teeth. It is not a surprise to note that the molar teeth exhibited marked wear, and that periodontal disease had been present as evidenced by bone loss in the mandibular molar/premolar region, but it is obvious that MIH is not as new as we may have thought!