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Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

sciencenorway.no

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Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#91

Post by lotsofpulp »

riku_iki wrote: post #38
sabujp wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes she had all her teeth when she died

Oh, this is super interesting.

My grandma had all her teeth at 97 or so when she passed, and never saw a dentist, and I saw her use this tobacco toothpaste 3x per day for 25 years, until she died.

https://image.slidesharecdn.com/stfactsheetcombined10-23-02-...

I assume she had a combination of good genes, frequent teeth cleaning right after meals, low sugar intake, and no soda/alcohol.

I have never had a cavity as of mid 30s, and I only started going to dentist at 23 or so. I don’t eat much, if any, sweets/junk food/soda.

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#93

Post by contingencies »

kingcharles wrote: post #60
contingencies wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool. Got a link on that?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caries_vaccine

Doesn't seem to say there's a functional human trial. https://patents.google.com/patent/US9040302B2/en suggests patent expires 2031.

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#95

Post by philliphaydon »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #66
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.

There's strong evidence. Fluoridation as public health policy modernly was partly driven by evidence from Colorado Springs, where naturally higher than typical fluoride levels caused better than average dental outcomes. To respond to a sibling comment: the relative levels have been looked at, in detail, and existing policy reflects what we've learned from that. Scaremongering over it influences real negative health o…

Isn’t the natural occurring fluoride Calcium fluoride while what we put in tooth paste (and add to water) is sodium fluoride which in addition to helping with our teeth is technically poisonous in large doses which is why we spit out tooth paste and don’t give children fluoride tooth paste until they learn to spit?

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#96

Post by chongli »

meowface wrote: post #23
Adraghast wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True but irrelevant. Cavities begin showing up in the historical record several millennia before the advent of candy and soda.

Many fruits are quite sugary, and some people probably lived in areas where they could consume fruits regularly. Also, as another commenter stated, non-sugar carbohydrates can also pose risks.

The fruits we eat today are also highly selectively-bred to be very large and sweet. Take a look at a modern banana compared to a wild-type banana [1]. Same goes for watermelon [2].

[1] https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5e20f576d0e9d12be5abc763/5e3...

[2] https://i.insider.com/56ce1de88a45651707ff60c9?width=1190

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#97

Post by asdff »

philliphaydon wrote: post #95
jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's strong evidence. Fluoridation as public health policy modernly was partly driven by evidence from Colorado Springs, where naturally higher than typical fluoride levels caused better than average dental outcomes. To respond to a sibling comment: the relative levels have been looked at, in detail, and existing policy reflects what we've learned from that. Scaremongering over it influences real negative health o…

Isn’t the natural occurring fluoride Calcium fluoride while what we put in tooth paste (and add to water) is sodium fluoride which in addition to helping with our teeth is technically poisonous in large doses which is why we spit out tooth paste and don’t give children fluoride tooth paste until they learn to spit?

You won't die or anything but you might get a stomach ache.

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#98

Post by monocasa »

VerminOctopus1 wrote: post #88
denimnerd42 wrote: post #50

genes probably. I’m mid 30s and have never had a cavity. I go to the dentist every 6months. I also have a huge sweet tooth.

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.

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#99

Post by asdff »

brnaftr361 wrote: post #36
FactoryReboot wrote: post #20

That’s easy. Sugar.

Anecdotally, I don't consume a whole lot of refined sugar but any time I do, I can feel the plaque building up almost immediately. But at least in terms of apples and grapes this isn't the case, nor does it appear to be so with complex carbs including bread and potatoes. Additionally I've noticed most candies and soda tend to leave residual taste in my mouth for hours. So I'm partial to pointing the finger specifical…

In my family its as clear as day. The boomers in the family grew up on soda and all have had dozens of cavities and currently sport gold teeth. Not the case for the older generation who grew up in the great depression off of water alone, or the children of the boomers who were raised better than a constant supply of 7 up as the only source of liquids.

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#100

Post by monocasa »

bsder wrote: post #54

The fact that we have "wisdom teeth" seems to indicate that ancient humans did, in fact, get cavities and lose teeth to them.

I thought the current thinking was that ancient humans had a lot more chewing they had to do to eat their food, which as a child pressured the jaws into being larger, which gave you space as an adult for your wisdom teeth.
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