In contrast, most of the hunter-gatherers had nearly perfect dental health. Apparently, orthodontists and dentists were rarely necessary in the Stone Age. Ample evidence abounds in support of Lieberman's observations.
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.
Though Pompeii citizens never used toothbrushes or toothpaste, they had healthy teeth thanks to their low-sugar diet. Massimo Osanna, superintendent of the World Heritage-listed site, said their diet was “balanced and healthy, similar to what we now call the Mediterranean diet,” according to The Telegraph.
Earlier research shows that ancient hunter-gathers had cavities in at most 14% of their teeth, and some had almost no cavities at all. Then, roughly 10,000 years ago, humans learned to farm. Grain and other carbohydrates took over the plate, making the human mouth a haven for bacteria that destroy tooth enamel.
Fossil records suggest that ancient humans usually had straight teeth and wisdom teeth. Today, between 25-50 percent of people require some kind of orthodontic intervention.
In contrast, most of the hunter-gatherers had nearly perfect dental health. Apparently, orthodontists and dentists were rarely necessary in the Stone Age. Ample evidence abounds in support of Lieberman's observations.
Folks in the Stone Age had those larger jaws and beautiful teeth because they lived on a diet of meat and vegetables that they hunted and gathered every day. Eventually, farms came into the picture, and people started to learn different ways to prepare, cook, and store food.
A new study found that humans living in Sudan about 2,000 years ago were actually preventing cavities by eating a plant called the purple nutsedge. Today, purple nutsedge is an aggressive weed that we do everything possible to contain. But back then, it may have been the key to decay prevention.
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.
Early humans generally had relatively few cavities, thanks in part to meals that were heavy on the meat, light on the carbs.
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. (The Mediterranean diet scores again!) The only dental damage was apparently due to the people's habits of "cutting or snapping objects with their jaws," ANSA adds.
“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.
When it comes to the best overall dental health, Denmark takes the #1 spot. 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.
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. These lesions were often severe, as in the case of cavities found on the teeth of the newly discovered species, Homo naledi.
In fact, archaeologists say that prehistoric humans had much better teeth than we do today.
Thanks to a diet high in nuts, some hunter gatherers' rotten breath and cavity-filled teeth rivaled those of their agriculturally inclined descendants. The researchers reached this conclusion after studying the decay-ridden teeth of 15,000-year-old adult skeletons from Morocco.
Hispanic youths had the most cavities (52%) compared with black (44.3%), Asian (42.6%) and white (39%) youths.
Frank Medina, otherwise known as the "King of Windmills," has never had a cavity in his life. That would not be so unusual, except that he is 94 years old. Ripley's Believe it or Not calls him the “oldest man in the world with all his teeth who has never had a cavity."
Prolonged time without brushing your teeth can cause tooth decay and gum disease to become more advanced, which can lead to receding gums and even tooth loss. Additional issues, including a higher risk for the onset of Alzheimer's disease, can be linked to high levels of unchecked bacteria in the mouth.
The ancient peoples' diet consisted a large part of fibrous foods. Fibrous foods are great for digestion, but also help to keep our teeth healthy and clean. They do this by aiding in flushing away food debris from the surface of the teeth.
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.
"Australian indigenous populations' diet would often be quite abrasive with particles of dirt and sand in food," Dr Aldritt adds. "They did show more wear and tear on their teeth from abrasion but they didn't experience as much tooth decay. They also used kangaroo tendons to clean between their teeth."
Evolutionary Changes in Humans Due to Diet
As our food system changed to softer, cooked foods thanks to agriculture, human jaws grew shorter and smaller. However, we retained the same number of teeth that also remained the same size. This often results in crowding and wisdom teeth that are too big for the jaw.
Surprisingly, analysis of skeletons from the middle ages suggest that people actually had quite healthy teeth! They used rough linen cloths to clean their teeth, often accompanied with a variety of pastes and powders used to whiten teeth and preserve fresh breath.
The analysis revealed several apparent trends: Pastoralists had “extremely healthy genomes” for allergy/autoimmunity, cancer, gastrointestinal ills, and dental health. Farmers and hunter-gatherers were less healthy but about even.