Dental Microwear Texture Analysis

Dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) is a method that reconstructs diet and dietary behavior from microscopic wear patterns on the surfaces of teeth. Pioneered by Mark Teaford in the 1980s, DMTA analyzes the three-dimensional texture of wear patterns produced as food is chewed. The method reflects short-term (last few months) dietary composition, complementing longer-term dietary information obtained from stable isotope analysis. DMTA has proven powerful for distinguishing diets rich in tough/fibrous foods from those dominated by hard/brittle foods.