A facial reconstruction made from the skull of England's King Richard III.

It turns out that Shakespeare was fairly accurate when he described King Richard III to be an anxiety-ridden English monarch in his 1591 play.

After examining his teeth, researchers say that the last English king to die in battle, ground his teeth due to an overwhelming amount of stress. It has been suggested that this stress was caused by guilt after murdering the Princes in the Tower in order to become the King of England.

Researchers have also concluded that Richard III had an alarming amount of tooth decay which could be a direct result of a decadent diet high in carbohydrates and sugar.

Along with stress-related bruxism and severe tooth decay, Dr. Amit Rai, a London general dental practitioner, claims in a paper for the British Dental Journal, that the king had a significant amount of tartar build up. He also suggests that his jaw and teeth show evidence of medieval dentistry and at least two tooth extractions most likely performed by barber surgeons.

These discoveries come to us after his body was found buried underneath a parking lot in Leicester, formerly the site of the Grey Friars Church, earlier this year. He was buried in this location in 1485 after experiencing a brutal death caused by massive blows to the head during the Battle of Bosworth in the War of Roses.

*Photo courtesy: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images


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