A 20-carat gold ligature found in an Aberdeen burial offers the earliest Scottish evidence of restorative dentistry and hints at who could afford cosmetic dental care in the past
The reassessment of human remains from the east kirk of St Nicholas Church in Aberdeen has produced an unexpected medical and social insight: archaeologists have identified a 20-carat gold ligature wrapped between the lower front teeth of a middle-aged man buried sometime between 1460 and 1670.
This discovery, reported in the British Dental Journal, is presented as the earliest known example of restorative dentistry in Scotland. The find comes from the historic Mither Kirk, a site with a place of worship recorded since 1151, and was made as researchers re-examined skeletons uncovered during earlier excavations.
Technological examination reveals the artefact is not a crude addition but the product of deliberate metalworking: scanning electron microscopy shows the wire contains roughly 82.4% gold, 9.8% silver and 2.5% copper, consistent with a 20-carat alloy.
The wire had been pulled through a draw plate and tightened into a knot, leaving a pronounced groove on an adjacent tooth root, suggesting it remained in place for a significant period. Given the skill required, researchers propose a goldsmith or jeweller — among the at least 22 goldsmiths known to have worked in the region in that era — may have manufactured, and possibly fitted, the ligature.
What the appliance likely did and who it served
Analysis indicates the ligature functioned either to stabilise a loose right lateral incisor or to act as a scaffold for a prosthetic replacement across the gap where a central incisor was missing. The device therefore served both a functional purpose and a visible one: its presence in the burial of a man interred in the affluent part of the churchyard supports the interpretation that he was a relatively wealthy local. In the late medieval and early modern periods, personal appearance carried moral and social meanings; researchers highlight that a healthy-looking face and a complete smile were seen as markers of character, so investment in dental appearance could be as much about reputation as it was about chewing.
Status, appearance and social meaning
The choice to commission a gold appliance speaks to the intersection of wealth, craft and cultural values. For those with means, obtaining a gold dental bridge would have required payment for precious metal and skilled labour, making it rare among the people represented at the site — only one individual out of around a hundred early modern burials showed comparable restorative work. The authors note that in many communities of the period, physical health and moral worth were linked in popular thought: maintaining a pleasant smile was therefore a form of social capital and a way to manage public perception.
Context: dental practice before modern dentistry
Formal dental qualifications did not exist until the mid-19th century, so dental care in earlier centuries was provided by a mix of practitioners. Barbers, barber-surgeons, itinerant tooth-drawers and local craftspersons performed extractions, simple repairs and other procedures. The Aberdeen ligature stands apart from the more common folk remedies and makeshift treatments recorded across Scotland — from heated turf applied for toothache on Skye to historical accounts of poultices used in parts of Aberdeen — by representing a deliberate, crafted intervention that combined medical intent with specialist metalwork.
Technical notes and wider significance
Microscopic inspection of the ligature shows manufacturing traces consistent with intentional shaping and long-term wear: the draw-plate markings, the knotted end, and the root abrasion all point to a device that was used in life rather than added post-mortem. The study, led by researchers from the University of Aberdeen and collaborators, places this find alongside earlier examples of metal dental work from places such as Egypt and continental Europe, while underlining its unique status in Scotland. Beyond the technical novelty, the discovery enriches our understanding of how health, craft and social identity intersected in late medieval and early modern communities.
