Dust and grit matter: abrasives of different size lead to opposing dental microwear textures in experimentally fed sheep (Ovis aries)

External abrasives ingested along with the herbivore diet are considered main contributors to dental wear, though how different abrasive sizes and concentrations influence wear remains unclear. Dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) is an established method for dietary reconstruction which describes a tooth’s surface topography on a micrometre scale. The method has yielded conflicting results as to the effect of external abrasives. In the present study, a feeding experiment was performed on sheep (Ovis aries), fed seven diets of different abrasiveness. Our aim was to discern the individual effects of abrasive size (4 , 50 and 130 µm) and concentration (0, 4 and 8 % of dry matter) on dental wear, applying DMTA to four tooth positions. Microwear textures differed between individual teeth, but surprisingly, showed no gradient along the molar tooth row, and the strongest differentiation of experimental groups was achieved when combining data of all maxillary molars. Overall, a pattern of ...

植食性动物随日粮摄入的外源磨料被视为牙齿磨损的主要成因，但不同尺寸与浓度的磨料如何影响牙齿磨损的机制仍未明确。牙齿微磨损纹理分析（Dental microwear texture analysis, DMTA）是一种成熟的饮食重建技术，可在微米尺度下刻画牙齿表面形貌。然而该方法针对外源磨料的作用所得到的研究结论并不一致。本研究以绵羊（Ovis aries）为实验动物，设置7种不同磨蚀性的日粮开展饲喂试验。本研究旨在厘清磨料尺寸（4、50与130微米）与浓度（占干物质的0%、4%与8%）对牙齿磨损的单独影响，并针对4个牙齿位置开展DMTA分析。不同个体的牙齿微磨损纹理存在差异，但出乎意料的是，臼齿列并未呈现出沿齿轴方向的纹理梯度；而当整合所有上颌臼齿的数据时，实验组间的区分效果最为显著。总体而言，存在一类……的模式