A man's lower jaw recovered from a medieval church in Aberdeen reveals the oldest known use of a dental bridge in Scotland, a new study finds. The gold wire, called a ligature, was installed around two teeth about 500 years ago to span the gap created by a lost tooth. "The application of the ligature would likely have caused some discomfort during the procedure," Rebecca Crozier , a bioarchaeologist at the University of Aberdeen and co-author of the new study on the jawbone, told Live Science in an email. But the man, who was middle-aged when he died between 1460 and 1670, "would have most likely gotten used to the presence of the wire over time and probably stopped noticing it," she said. The lower jaw preserved nine teeth, as well as evidence that one of the man's incisors — the lower right central one — had been lost during life. The man had hardened plaque on all of his teeth, cavities on three teeth, and periodontal disease from receding gums, demonstrating poor oral health.…