Betteridge's law applies. It's well understood that hominids experienced tooth decay throughout their evolution. Causes and contributors and rates over time may be up for debate, but the evidentially confirmed fact that our ancestors got cavities is settled. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth_decay#History
Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?
131–140 of 207 posts
Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
> they had a life expectancy of like 20 years This just meant that a LOT of kids died, not that most adults didn't live very long.
That is something apparently so obvious, but I was pretty surprised when I first read it. Honestly grew up thinking everyone died at 30 in the past.
Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is something apparently so obvious, but I was pretty surprised when I first read it. Honestly grew up thinking everyone died at 30 in the past.
The other weird thing is how skewed it was by sex. Men might have a life expectancy of 50 while for women it was 30.
Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?
#134Main building of Vipeholm hospital, now a secondary school The experiments provided extensive knowledge about dental health and resulted in enough empirical data to link the intake of sugar to dental caries.[1] However, today they are considered to have violated the principles of medical ethics.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipeholm_experiments#:~:text....
Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?
#135So 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.
Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
Either the first dentist thought you had a cavity when you had none, or the second one missed it. One of them was just wrong.
Or he had a boat payment due. Seriously though... some dentists will fill any tiny crevice, others wait until there's more clearly a cavity. I'm not sure why the difference.
Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting, I would assume that prehistoric times required "perfect" teeth (and even overall geometry and jaw structure). You need a high quality grinding / cutting tool to rip meat easily.
Quoted post unavailable.
Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?
#138Weston A Price is really the go-to for the early research in nutrition and dentistry. His book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration was making the rounds back when Nourishing Traditions became popular. Price, conclusively in my mind, showed that the moment the modern western was introduced into cultures who ate traditional foods, the next generation had terrible teeth, jaws that were too small for all their teeth, etc…
- ditch plant fat for animal fat
- avoid excessive sugar
- eat real food (no fake milk, meat etc.)
- stop eating vegetables, specially raw vegetables
Food is one of those things I take an ultra conservative stance on. The food industry has made eating literal poison (plant seeds, plant oils, spinach, brussel sprouts etc.) seem healthy with corrupt research and marketing.
You can't just take a food ingredient from one culture, throw away the indegenous preparation techniques and eat it completely different way and expect it to work. Take spinach for example. It comes from ancient Persia where it was added to a meat stew... you can't eat that raw. Spinach has high oxalate content... which gets reduced when you cook it for a long time. The remaining oxalate binds with high calcium in the meat stew and the resulting dish has no oxalate content at all.
Oxalates are one of the anti-nutrients, which are phytotoxins that plants use to avoid being eaten... Anti-nutrients in particular attack animals by affecting essential nutrient absorption. Indegenous preparation, which has evolved with the cultures, has ways to manage these toxins or counter them with some other ingredient which makes it edible. You can't do away with those preparation techniques.
Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?
#139Weston A Price is really the go-to for the early research in nutrition and dentistry. His book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration was making the rounds back when Nourishing Traditions became popular. Price, conclusively in my mind, showed that the moment the modern western was introduced into cultures who ate traditional foods, the next generation had terrible teeth, jaws that were too small for all their teeth, etc…
One doesn't have to ditch all "western food". Just being sensible with it is good enough: - ditch plant fat for animal fat - avoid excessive sugar - eat real food (no fake milk, meat etc.) - stop eating vegetables, specially raw vegetables Food is one of those things I take an ultra conservative stance on. The food industry has made eating literal poison (plant seeds, plant oils, spinach, brussel sprouts etc.) seem h…
Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m in the same boat. I’ve eaten a lot of junk in my life (standard North American trash diet), and have never had a cavity or any serious dental issue in my life. I also get a cleaning every 6 months at the dentist. I’d be shocked if the likelihood of developing a cavity didn’t have a large genetic component.
My guess is that it's mainly the composition of your mouth's microbiome. Some bacteria really like creating acid that eats away at enamel. Some don't. Whichever happens to have a foothold in your mouth (which probably has a very inherited component) is probably the determining factor in tooth decay.
Most were in my early teens (I had eight filled at once one time) so I was convinced it was the dentist racketeering and my parents wouldn't let me out of getting them filled. I should note my parents have a similar diet and a similar amount of major dental work. The handful of cavities I've had in adulthood have been major blows to my mental health.