When University of Kansas professor emeritus, David Frayer, biological anthropology, front, needed an expert opinion about normal tooth alignment he consulted his dentist, Dr. Joe Gatti. Frayer has been studying fossils, including Neanderthal teeth, at a site in Croatia for about 20 years.

David Frayer has been studying fossils excavated from a site in Croatia for about 20 years now, off and on.

So, when the University of Kansas professor emeritus of anthropology decided to revisit the grooves in one 130,000-year-old set of teeth during a recent trip to the Neanderthal site, he thought it best to bring in a fresh pair of eyes. More specifically, those of longtime friend and dentist Joe Gatti.

Within the last week, the duo’s research into evidence of possible prehistoric dentistry has generated attention from media outlets across the globe, including the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine and British newspaper The Independent.

“Now I’m a Neanderthal dentist,” jokes Gatti, who befriended Frayer 30 years ago and has been cleaning his buddy’s teeth for about half that time.

Gatti’s talked shop about Neanderthal teeth with Frayer a few times over the years, he says. But, up until recently, he’d never been a co-author on an academic study regarding the subject. The pair’s findings were published last week in the Bulletin of the International Association for Paleodontology.

The study, co-written by Janet Monge of the University of Pennsylvania and Davorka Radov?i? of the Croatian Natural History Museum, presents evidence of what may have been a very early, very primitive attempt at dental treatment. In it, Frayer and his fellow researchers analyze the marks on four teeth from the same long-suffering Neanderthal.

The specimen in question appeared to have suffered from tooth pain for some time, as evidenced by grooves and scratches in the teeth and fractures in the enamel. Most likely, the Neanderthal was attempting to treat the discomfort caused by his or her impacted molar, Frayer says.

These photos show three views of the 130,000-year-old Neanderthal teeth discovered near Krapina, Croatia more than 100 years ago. David Frayer, a professor emeritus of biological anthropology at the University of Kansas, and Joe Gatti, a Lawrence dentist, were among four co-authors on a recently published story that points to evidence of a very early attempt at dental treatment, as seen here by the toothpick grooves and scratches on the teeth from that study.

“Anyone that’s had a dental problem, whether it’s a cavity or abscess or whatever — they’re trying to manipulate the area where there’s pain. And these Neanderthals were doing the same thing,” Frayer says.

“Anthropologists are often tackling problems that they could use some clinical advice on,” Frayer says of approaching Gatti. Ultimately, the dentist’s advice helped steer Frayer and other researchers toward the right path, Frayer says. It was Gatti who recognized the fractures on the tongue side of the teeth as not unlike a problem he might treat at his dental practice.

“When I look at the teeth and the wear patterns and the chipping and the things of that nature, I’m somewhat amazed that they’re a little larger than what I see today, but not that much,” says Gatti, who has been practicing dentistry for more than 30 years. “They look very, very close to what I consider normal.”

Frayer still isn’t sure what caused the toothpick grooves. One theory is that the Neanderthal possibly used a bone or piece of grass. Whatever the tool was, researchers know the unlucky Neanderthal was attempting to treat his pain. And although past research indicates Neanderthals were using toothpicks as far back as 2 million years ago, Frayer’s new study may challenge conceptions we hold about our primitive ancestors.

There’s no indication that apes or any other nonhuman primates have used toothpicks to treat dental problems, Frayer says, “so this is clearly a human habit.”

Frayer first studied the teeth more than 20 years ago in Croatia, but he wasn’t the first academic to stumble upon the battered pearly whites. The specimens were discovered inside the Krapina cave, a Neanderthal fossil site near the town of Krapina, just before the turn of the 20th century.

The site has also produced evidence that Neanderthals fashioned jewelry out of a pair of eagle talons discovered there. Frayer and Radov?i? documented that discovery in a 2015 study, and Frayer says he plans to revisit Krapina soon, possibly this winter, to do some additional work at the site. That might include scanning the Neanderthal teeth under an electron microscope to verify that the fractures did occur during the individual’s lifetime and not after his or her death.

“Even though all these teeth were found more than 100 years ago, they’re still producing a lot of information,” Frayer says. “…It’s like magic to think this kind of stuff happens.”