'Exceptional' prosthesis of gold, silver and wool helped 18th-century man live with cleft palate

Archaeologists have discovered a first-of-its-kind medical prosthesis in Poland: a nearly 300-year-old device that helped a man with cleft palate live more comfortably with this condition.

Nowadays, individuals born with cleft palate can get surgery to fix the condition, which occurs when the roof of the mouth, known as the hard palate, doesn't completely close during gestation. The hard palate prevents substances in the mouth from entering the nasal cavity, and it also helps with swallowing, breathing and talking, according to the study. Without access to modern surgery, this 18th-century man, who died at around age 50, found another way to deal with the condition: a prosthetic, made of wool and precious metals, that fit into his nasal cavity.

"This is probably the first such discovery not only in Poland but also in Europe," study first author Anna Spinek, an anthropologist at the Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy in Poland, told Live Science in an email. "No such devices exist in institutional and private collections (Polish and foreign)."

The "exceptional" 1.2-inch-long (3.1 centimeters) prosthesis, known as a palatal obturator, weighs around 0.2 ounce (5.5 grams), according to the study, which was published in the April issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. It comprises a woolen pad sewn to a metallic plate.

The researchers found the prosthesis in a crypt in the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Krakow during an archaeological excavation from 2017 to 2018. It lay between the jaws of a man who had cleft palate, according to a physical examination and a CT (computed tomography) scan of his remains. When archaeologists removed the prosthesis, they noticed that a fiber pad they later identified as wool bore specks of yellow (probably gold) and green (probably copper), which were unintentionally removed during the conservation process. It's likely that the wool pad was covered with a thin sheet of copper and then gold to help prevent infections by blocking secretions that could soak into the fabric.

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"Today, it is difficult to assess how well the obturator fitted or how tight a seal it provided," the authors wrote in the study. "However, modern-day patients struggling with similar health problems describe the use of a prosthesis providing improvements in speech (which becomes clearer) and increased comfort when eating."