PONE-D-22-09813The concordance of signals based on irregular incremental lines in the human tooth cementum with documented pregnancies: Results from a systematic approachPLOS ONE

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Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. It is my pleasure to inform you that it has been accepted for publication pending you address a few minor revisions suggested by the Reviewers. I really look forward to handling the revision and to seeing this paper published if you are able to address these comments satisfactorily. I will evaluate the revisions. The paper will not need further review.

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Reviewers' comments:

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: A sound and painstaking study based on unique material, dedicated to check "reverse" hypothesis: if pregnancies leave detectable traces on dental cementum incremental lines, maybe it is possible to determine past pregnancies from incremental lines? Authors show that notwithstanding all efforts relation absent but poor and insufficient for use in e.g.paleodemography (or forensic identification).

Minor comments: more details on protocol how teeth sections were performed and tools used for visualisation (now only reference given - please check the publication date, it is missing). I would suggest also more technical details from the main text (especially Methods section) move to Supplements

Reviewer #2: Investigation of cementum variation to identify pregnancy is a promising are of interest, yet a very complicated one considering all the potential confounding factors. This particular team of researchers has been at the forefront of cementum studies for over 20 years, and their contribution is always welcome. However, the methodology developed in their previous papers to define IL, and this follow up seem rather cumbersome, maybe unnecessarily so. What they define as a standardized, reproducible method, is as far as I am concerned, not efficient enough, and simply too cumbersome to be of any really use, especially in paleodemography. However, I welcome the rigorous approach and systematic review of limits of the study that does contribute to move research forward. However, I am a bit surprised that they have disregarded entirely a whole body of evidence (Newham and colleagues 2021; 2022; Newham and Naji 2022) that has already proven to be potentially more informative (but not necessarily applicable at a wider scale) regarding the influence of pregnancies on cementum variation. This is disappointing considering that the one of the authors (UWB) has contributed to one edited volume covering the topic (Naji, Rendu and Gourichon 2022).

Finally, my main criticism would be that the combination of the uncertainty linked to the authors original IL definition, combined with the potential biological variability of cementum growth will probably never result in a precise identification method dedicated to pregnancies. Potentially, any major growth alteration variable might have a confounding effect on a visual inspection of a AEFC cementum semi-thin section. Using a male control group would have been a powerful argument to justify (or discard) the original IL method in terms of picking out signals.

Nevertheless, as stated previously, any contribution at that level that moves the debate forward is welcome.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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The concordance of signals based on irregular incremental lines in the human tooth cementum with documented pregnancies: Results from a systematic approach

PONE-D-22-09813R1

Dear Dr. Vach,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Gwen Robbins Schug

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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I am pleased to accept your paper and look forward to seeing it published in PLOS ONE.

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