Thousand Dollar Smile: The Earliest Known Dental Work in Scottish History Was Done With 20-Carat Gold

Reanalysis reveals a 20-carat gold ligature on the mandible of a medieval man from Aberdeen, representing the earliest known restorative dental work in Scottish history

Medieval man from Aberdeen with a golden dental ligature. Credit: Dittmar et al. 2026

I am going to tell you a not-so-secret secret. As a child, I actually preferred going to the dentist as opposed to the hairdresser. I know, how is that possible?

Simple: hairdressers talk, pry, and gossip, but at the dentist, there is no talking and no questions. And anyway, every single time I have ever gone to the dentist, I have never experienced any pain. Keep in mind I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed at the same time, only to go home and eat curry a few hours later, so… do with that as you will. I may also add that the nurse gave me my teeth after the procedure. My professor is always worried we will find human remains in one of our archaeological digs, and a small part of me wants to put one of those wisdom teeth in a find bag just to see his mortified reaction.

Anyway, I may have had a different opinion of dentists had I lived between the 15th and 17th centuries. In a recent study published in the British Dental Journal (whose issue cover has a very funny and terrifying illustration of someone getting their tooth pulled with pliers), the earliest known example of restorative dentistry in Scotland has been identified.

More precisely, while examining the remains of various individuals, they came across a man who lived between 1460 and 1670 CE in Aberdeen. However, something was unique about his smile, and it was not just his missing incisors.

A History of Dental Ligature

Cover of the issue (Volume 240) in which this study appeared. Credit: BDJ

Many archaeological studies have shown that poor dental health was common in the pre-modern era, yet the importance of maintaining oral health was also recognized.

Restorative dentistry is, in fact, old, with some of the earliest archaeological evidence suggesting that attempts to fix teeth or in some other way preserve a smile have been made since at least the Neolithic period.

One example of such a procedure was identified in a ca. 14,000-year-old individual, in which modifications were made to a carious lesion on the lower molar. While the earliest known dental fillings also come from this period. Around 6,500 years ago in Slovenia, researchers discovered beeswax fillings inside a carious lesion.

The earliest examples of dental ligatures, that is, attachments of wire or brackets to connect teeth, have been found in Egypt, where silver and gold dental bridges were used to stabilize loose or lost teeth. Although this was likely done post-mortem, it was probably as part of the mummification process.

In Europe during the Middle Ages (500–1500 CE), there was an increase in medical treatises explaining how to ligate a loose tooth. Though most of these texts are rather brief, possibly because they were regarded as teeth that fell outside the jurisdiction of medieval physicians and surgeons. Instead, teeth were more commonly treated by barbers, dentatores.

Yet while texts and books describing dental ligatures are well known, physical examples are much rarer, with previous examples reported from 15th-century Portugal and 16th- and 17th-century France.

Now that tiny pool of examples has been expanded by the discovery of a gold ligature in medieval Scotland by Dr Jenna Dittmar and her colleagues.

Teeth Fastened by Gold

St Nicholas Kirk in Aberdeen. Credit: stu Smith on Flickr

The mandible was recovered during salvage excavations before the redevelopment of the East Kirk of St Nicholas Kirk in Aberdeen. The Kirk of St Nicholas has been around since at least 1157, when it was first mentioned in a text; however, some suspect it may have existed in the 11th century.

The church was a main location for Christian worship for around 900 years, with rebuilding and expansion occurring through the 14th to 16th centuries, during which it was recognized as one of the largest churches in all of Scotland. During the Protestant Reformation (1534-1603), which reached Scotland around 1560 CE, the church’s Catholic phase ended, and the first Protestant minister was appointed in 1560.

The church was subject to excavations between January and December 2006, during which skeletal remains of approximately 900 individuals were recovered, along with 3.5 metric tons of other skeletal material.

As part of a broader health study in Scotland, various skeletons were being reassessed, among them the skeletons of Kirk of St Nicholas. It was during this examination that a twinkling caught the researchers’ eyes. The mandible belonged to a male, likely an adult over the age of 18. His teeth were in pretty terrible shape, with various carious lesions found on multiple teeth.

However, the incisors are the most notable feature; a fine gold wire encircled two incisors, bridging a gap left behind by the loss of a third. Based on the groove left behind by the contact of the wire and the teeth, it seems it had been placed there long before the individual’s death.

Thousand Dollar Smile

20-carat gold dental ligature as seen from the front and back. Credit: Dittmar et al. 2026

Dentistry first became a recognized profession in the UK around the 19th century, though formal qualifications did not appear until 1860. Prior to this, dental care was typically given by barbers, dentatores, barber surgeons, community healers, and traveling tooth-drawers, basically a person who pulled teeth and sold remedies during carnivals and markets, turning the whole ordeal into great shows of spectacle. The screams of pain would be drowned out by the noise and music played during these spectacles.

In early modern Scotland, in particular, remedies, including tooth pulling, were usually performed by local women who also offered herbal medicine, charms, and prayers. From written sources, we know some of the folk remedies included applying heated green turf to an aching tooth on the Isle of Skye or filling an abscess with cow dung in Aberdeen (I really don’t know how that last one was supposed to help; I am sure that would have simply caused massive infection).

Examination of the man’s golden wire showed it was made of 20-carat gold, suggesting a goldsmith made the ligature. Between 1460 and 1670 CE, Aberdeen had at least 22 known goldsmiths capable of producing this type of wire and fastening it with a knot. Based on the skill and material needed for the procedure, Dr. Dittmar and her colleagues proposed that the entire procedure was likely conducted by a semi-skilled jeweler, who could have procured the gold wire and had the skills to fit it.

This, in tandem with the lack of any similar finds in the entire cemetery, indicates that the procedure was not only rare but also likely very costly. Considering the man was buried inside the East Kirk, it suggests he was rather wealthy in life and could have afforded a procedure to fix his smile. Rather important, as the appearance of a person and their perceived health was thought to link to their social character and sins.

In a recent study by Dr. Dittmar and her colleagues, the first known example of restorative dentistry in Scotland was discovered. The study identified an adult man who had a gold ligature placed to stabilize the incisors in his mandible.

He lived well before the advent of modern dentistry. The skill and material needed for the procedure indicate the fitting was done by a semi-skilled jeweler, who not only could supply the gold wire but also perform the fitting and tinning.

While the ligature may have aided chewing, it was likely done for aesthetic rather than practical reasons.

I said I don’t mind going to the dentist, but I think that is mainly because we have come a long way from the days of dental showmanship and spectacle. I probably would have simply endured my toothaches had I lived in the 15th to 17th centuries.

What about you, would you have risked a visit to the local barber in the 15th to 17th centuries? And how expensive do you think this procedure would have been?

Let me know your thoughts, and if you’d like to support the countless hours I pour into researching, writing, and bringing these hidden corners of history to life, why not Buy Me A Coffee

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References

Dittmar, J., Crozier, R., Cameron, A. et al. Restorative dentistry in Early Modern Scotland: archaeological evidence of the use of a gold ligature. Br Dent J 240, 555–559 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-025-9107-3