Comment by thinkingtoilet
3 months ago
Did past humans have the dental problems we have? I imagine a lot of our problems are caused by our diet and access to sugar.
3 months ago
Did past humans have the dental problems we have? I imagine a lot of our problems are caused by our diet and access to sugar.
Starchy food led to rotten teeth in ancient hunter-gatherers:
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-01-07-starchy-food-led-rotten...
But I think the more common prehistoric tooth problem was severe wear from using the teeth to process things like fibers and hides.
Yes, some studies and observations suggest that pre-contact Aboriginal Australians had generally good oral health with low rates of tooth decay and periodontal disease.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jphd.12570
It's not just sugar, starchy foods like bread, potatoes start breaking down quickly right in the mouth into simple sugars, it's enough that white bread has a higher glycemic index than actual sugar :)
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Never in History have humans had as good teeth as they do today. Also consider that until we had vaccines and antibiotics in the early 20th century, the average lifespan was very short.
average, yes, but living to 70 was reasonably common if you made it past childhood.
I was under the impression living to 70 would have been very rare in, say, 1100 CE
9 replies →
Absolutely false.
Check out Nutrition and physical degeneration book by Weston Price.
All you need to do is to look at the pictures in the book, you don't even need to read it.
Sure. We can also treat cancer better than ever before, but it would still be interesting to know where the rise in cancer cases came from, even if we can patch around the problem and are better off overall. Same for dental health: my understanding is also that people didn't used to need toothpaste to enjoy a comparable dental health
a lot of it comes from better detection as much as poor diets and very low amounts of exercise.
My understanding is that they were often missing multiple teeth.
> Never in History have humans had as good teeth as they do today.
This is absolutely untrue. What is your reference?
Never in history have so many people had such "good" looking teeth, but they involve an enormous amount of prosthesis and amalgam. Veneers aren't good teeth, they're intentionally destroyed teeth used to root false teeth.
And brushing, although it keeps teeth clean and not stinky, deepens the gum pockets around teeth that host the microorganisms that will eventually uproot them.
I'll take my bets on modern day britain having much better dental health than any other british era back to the romans. Starchy food + no brushing = bad news.