Neanderthal Root Canal Pushes Back Origins of Dentistry

Long before novocaine, a Neanderthal in Siberia apparently sat still while someone drilled into a screaming molar with a stone tool. That's the scenario sketched by scientists studying a 59,000-year-old tooth from Chagyrskaya Cave, described Wednesday in PLOS One . The molar bears a clean, circular hole and microscopic V-shaped...