• Daxtron2@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    6 months ago

    This isn’t universally true. There were less incidences of general tooth decay due to different microflora than we have now, but people absolutely still got dental issues that would result in systemic infections and death.

    • psud@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      Sure. Tropical people have always had fruit, some had sugar cane. People fought and their teeth were damaged

      But dental cavities and abscesses are caused by sugar in your mouth, and bread has always been good at getting stuck between people’s teeth, while their saliva converts the starches to sugars

      Archaeologists determine whether a skeleton came from a hunter gatherer or a settled farmer by their teeth

      Microflora in your mouth - perhaps they did have different, there’s no evidence, but if so I would guess that one’s mouth microflora changes depending on what one eats

      Note that the process that damages teeth is fermentation - where sugar is fermented, liberating energy, carbonic acid. That doesn’t happen in the absence of sugar that persists in your mouth

        • psud@aussie.zone
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          6 months ago

          So your “their teeth were good due to different microflora” can be simplified to “their teeth were good because they didn’t have tooth damaging food”

          • Daxtron2@startrek.website
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            6 months ago

            The original claim was dental issues were generally a death sentence, which was true whether or not they’re more common now.