Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

Post by shakna » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 5:36 AM UTC

asdff wrote: post #105

mateo1 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also nobody mentions all the starchy stuff and the fruit our ancestors ate. It's just odd how people reinterpret the entire history of our species based on recent dietary fads.

Honestly our ancestors probably ate anything possible that was around. Probably a lot of half spoiled meat that you just ate if you came upon it and barely nutritious plant matter just to fill the belly. Surviving is insanely difficult, you don't know where your next meal is coming from, and you will take that rotting animal vs being hungry. I imagine cooking too didn't always happen. We take the logistics needed for…

Post by stjohnswarts » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 5:43 AM UTC

jjeaff wrote: post #37

Although this wouldn't apply to ancient humans, I have heard the hypothesis that many people in olden times didn't have as many problems with cavities because many people drank well water. And well water has naturally occurring fluoride.

Post by kgc » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 5:48 AM UTC

gumby wrote: post #80

sabujp wrote: post #33

My grandmother chewed betel leaves with a small amount of tobacco, betel nuts, lime (calcium hydroxide aka chuna/chun), multiple times a day all her life. Her other diet consisted of tea just as many times per day, and for actual food a diet of rice, fish, and vegetables. For the majority of her life I don't think she actually had access to fluoridated toothpaste and probably used neem twigs or even charcoal at times…

Interesting. My Indian grandparents and g-grandparents appeared to have most or all of their teeth, and were a long lived bunch (all but one into their 90s). I can’t say conclusively all but I never noticed any gaps or problems, which is the kind of thing kids notice. The g-grandparents would all have been born in the 19th century. My Australian grandmother had all her teeth pulled out when she was 12 and wore artifi…

Post by b112 » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 5:52 AM UTC

otherotherchris wrote: post #47

mc32 wrote: post #7

So apparently some think cavities (caries) are contagious via mouth fluid exchange in kissing... if so, then perhaps an ancestor became an unwitting host through some unknown mechanics. Perhaps poorly cooked jowls of some sort.

Could have been hand to mouth contact from any number of sources. Bacterial biofilms are pretty easy to transfer and as we recently learned from eating bats it only has to happen once.

Post by agumonkey » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 5:54 AM UTC

mostertoaster wrote: post #48

0des wrote: post #16

When your diet is mostly meat based, and some foraged greens and rare fruit, it is not the ideal environment to feed the process that creates cavities. Also, I'd imagine tooth extraction predates a lot of modern history, which may skew results, but that is just a guess on my part.

I figured it’s that they ate all the animal. They always boiled the bones and that strengthened their teeth. I bet if you look at ancient people in tropical areas they had less teeth as well as less need for them.