Maya Dentists

People do many things to make their bodies look beautiful. They might cut their hair in the latest style or have their teeth whitened.

For the Maya, this was not enough. They REALLY wanted their teeth to be good-looking. Sometimes, they had parts of their teeth cut away to create different shapes. The most expensive thing they did was to put jewels in their teeth! The most common stone used was jade. Jade is a mineral that has a green color. For the Maya, the green color meant a good harvest. It was a very lucky color.

Ancient Maya teeth showing insets of jade and turquoise stones. The front teeth have also been filed into decorative shapes.

The Maya must have had some very skilled dentists. Archaeologists have found skulls of Maya people with small holes drilled into their teeth. They had to be very precise when drilling these holes. One mistake could cause a lot of pain or ruin a tooth forever. Jewels are put into the holes. Probably plant sap was used to make the stones stick to the teeth.

Wikimedia Commons.

The photo you see below of a skull show many jewels in the teeth. There are stones of several different colors. It must have been a very expensive job because there are quite a few stones!

Isn’t it amazing to think that the Maya were decorating their teeth 2,500 years ago!

Here is a word search for you about Maya dentistry. We hope you’ve had fun learning about ancient dentists.