Prehistoric humans didn't have toothbrushes. They didn't have floss or toothpaste, and they certainly didn't have Listerine. Yet somehow, their mouths were a lot healthier than ours are today. "Hunter-gatherers had really good teeth," says Alan Cooper, director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA.
According to a recent study published in Nature Genetics, ancient hunter-gatherer clans had better teeth than we do today. This finding has been linked to changes in human diets over time. "Hunter-gatherers had really good teeth," says Alan Cooper, Ph. D., director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA.
Ancient humans had lower loads of harmful disease-causing bacteria and a significantly lower risk of developing tooth decay and gum disease. However, once farming populations expand, there's a massive change. Huge amounts of gum disease and cavities start cropping up," says Alan Cooper, Ph.
Tooth decay first ravaged human society 15,000 years ago.
Our ancestors' diets consisted of all-natural, unprocessed foods like vegetables, fruits, wheat, and rice. These foods contained no chemicals or preservatives and were rich in the vitamins and nutrients that make teeth resistant to decay and other dental infections.
Natural Toothcare. Native Americans cleaned their teeth by using chewsticks and chewing on fresh herbs to cleanse their teeth and gums. Chewsticks were twigs that had two uses: one end was frayed by a rock and used for brushing, while the other end was sharpened and used as a tooth pick.
Make it to 94 and you done good.
Multiple cavities pit the teeth excavated from a Viking settlement found in modern-day Sweden. Anyone who survived to adulthood in the Viking Age probably had terrible teeth.
Prehistoric humans didn't have toothbrushes. They didn't have floss or toothpaste, and they certainly didn't have Listerine. Yet somehow, their mouths were a lot healthier than ours are today. "Hunter-gatherers had really good teeth," says Alan Cooper, director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA.
The jaws of hunter-gatherers nearly uniformly reveal roomy, perfect arches of well aligned teeth, with no impacted wisdom teeth—a movie star's dream smile, 15,000 years before the movies! Our ancestors did not suffer from crooked teeth to the same extent that we do today.
That wasn't the only surprise for the researchers: their analysis also revealed that the people of Pompeii had nearly "perfect teeth," ANSA reports. A low-sugar diet, rich in fruit and vegetables — along with fluorine that was present in a local water source— gave them their pearly whites.
Victorian Oral Hygiene & Dental Decay
Most people cleaned their teeth using water with twigs or rough cloths as toothbrushes. Some splurged on a “tooth-powder” if they could afford it. Sugar became more widely distributed, thus contributing to an increase in tooth decay during this time period.
One week without brushing:
As soon as a week goes by, your teeth' enamel will start to break down. The plaque that hasn't been removed will make it easy for bad breath to grow. A dirty tooth will make it hard to clean. You will have a greater chance of getting cavities if you don't brush your teeth for a week.
In the last decade or so archaeologists have found evidence from cultures across the world that bad teeth were scraped, scoured, even drilled and filled apparently to remove decayed tissue.
A diet rich in starchy foods may have led to high rates of tooth decay in ancient hunter-gatherers, says a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
But recent research suggests this is not the case. In fact, cavities have now been found in tooth fossils from nearly every prehistoric hominin species studied. They were probably caused by eating certain fruits and vegetation as well as honey.
Cavemen chewed on sticks to clean their teeth and even used grass stalks to pick in between their teeth. Without the availability of high-quality toothbrushes and toothpaste, however, cavemen's teeth were more susceptible to cavities and decay, even with a healthy, carbohydrate-free diet.
Teeth Around the World: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
With a DMFT (decayed, missing, or filled teeth) index score of 0.4, Danish citizens have pretty perfect teeth. Germany, Finland, Sweden, and the UK all have scores below 1.0, making them the five countries with the healthiest teeth.
Ancient people who lived in the north were healthier. They had better teeth and less cancer. The most ancient individuals were less likely to have been predisposed to cancer and neurological/psychological conditions.
“They had really good teeth – they ate a diet that contained few sugars, and was high in fruit and vegetables,” orthodontist Elisa Vanacore said at a press conference last week.
Contrary to the depiction of medieval peasants with blackened and rotting teeth, the average person in the Middle Ages had teeth that were in very good condition. This is substantially due to one factor—the rarity of sugar in the diet.
The chances are Vikings were a lot leaner than many people today, thanks to their protein-rich diet, and their commitment to hard labor. However, it's likely that the comparative 'largeness' of Vikings was down to their muscular bodies and strength, rather than simply being "fat".
Since animal diets don't contain acids or refined sugars, they don't need to worry about plaque and cavities like we do! Human diets are more carbohydrate-rich, leading to plaque that can turn into cavities and decay if left untreated.
According to a study by Delta Dental, 31% of Americans fail to brush their teeth at least twice a day, with two percent admitting to not brushing at all. Even those of us that do brush have a tendency to go far too long between brushing.
Unlike humans, most animals—especially those living in the wild—don't eat cooked food. This provides their teeth with protection from tooth decay because they aren't eating foods that are heavy on refined sugar.