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.
Paleolithic and Mesolithic skulls also show signs of cavities. The Paleolithic period took place roughly 3.3 million years ago, and the Mesolithic period began around 8,000 BC. Two of the leading factors of increased dental caries were the consumption of plant-based foods containing carbohydrates and rice cultivation.
Early humans generally had relatively few cavities, thanks in part to meals that were heavy on the meat, light on the carbs. Then humans invented farming and began eating more grain. Bacteria in the human mouth flourished, pouring out acids that eat away at the teeth.
Before the bow drill, people used tools shaped into tiny blades to scrape out the rotten areas. Imagine taking a little tiny rock, chipping and sanding it down until it had sharp edges and a pointy sharp tip, then digging out a painful, decayed area of your tooth.
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."
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.
By creating an acidic environment in your mouth, bacteria erode tooth enamel. Everyone has saliva as a natural defense against these bacteria; however, some people have enough nutrients in their saliva to remineralize the teeth enough to stop cavities in their tracks.
The researchers concluded that the period saw wood and bone flints shift from use as simple toothpicks to primitive tools for excavating cavities, and that humans' first attempt at dentistry involved “scratching and levering activities,” not drilling practices.
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.
It all started with farming, says Alan Cooper, the director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA. His study suggests that the shift from meat, nuts and vegetables to grains and sugars has wreaked havoc in our mouths by changing the kinds of bacteria we find there.
Hispanic youths had the most cavities (52%) compared with black (44.3%), Asian (42.6%) and white (39%) youths.
1. Philippines. This island nation located in between the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea takes the cake (literally and figuratively) of the worst oral health in the world. The Philippines College of Dentistry found that nearly 90 percent of Filipinos suffer from tooth decay.
Ancient people were overall very healthy. 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.
Your cavemen ancestors actually had wide jaws with roomy, aligned teeth and arches that any dentist or your ARCH orthodontist in Greater Boston and Cape Cod would love to treat. It seems that as time moved on, our jaws and bite changed too.
Cavemen had dental cavities, researchers have revealed, after analyzing fossilized jaws from a site in eastern Morocco. Dental caries is a bacterial disease that forms in teeth of people consuming a carbohydrate-rich diet.
But over time, our teeth have grown crooked because our jaws have grown smaller. It all emanates from cultural shifts within important daily actions we seldom think about — chewing, breathing, or the position of our jaws at rest. And industrialization changed everything.
Our oldest ancestors had great teeth, despite the lack of toothbrushes, toothpaste and lies to dentists about daily flossing. But as humans transitioned from hunting and gathering to farming, tooth-decaying bacteria that feast on carbohydrates proliferated in human mouths, according to NPR.
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.
Tooth Decay
The average medieval European peasant actually had very strong teeth and few problems with decay. In fact, based on surveys of archaeological data, only 20 percent of teeth found at medieval sites showed any sign of decay.
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.
Some treatments included the inhalation of wild mint, the use of hare bones to incise the gums, wearing bones covered with feces, and gargling the ash of deer horns.
Some people have a higher composition of certain minerals, which can give them an advantage in fighting cavities. We can't all belong to this lucky group. But that's ok—there are things you can do to drastically reduce your chance of getting a cavity.
Few people make it through life without at least one cavity. Cavities are the result of tooth decay, and everyone is at some risk. Fortunately, there are things you can do to minimize your risk.
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.