Although not eating sugar, drinking carbonated water, but the ancient people still have tooth decay?

and tooth enamel damage is one of our most common dental problems, but the ancient people who do not have a diet like us also have these problems.

Modern life with drinks full of sugar and carbonated drinks, such as carbonated soft drinks, fruit juices, wine or acidic foods, and improper hygiene habits make tooth problems appear. much in the community.

At first glance, it seems that this is a problem of modern people, but according to the latest research, similar dental problems have caused teeth of people living 2.5 million years ago to erode enamel. teeth.

Picture 1 of Although not eating sugar, drinking carbonated water, but the ancient people still have tooth decay?
Small scratches on the teeth are signs of tooth damage in prehistoric people.(Photo: Ian Towle).

This finding shows that modern humans and modern people have the same dental problems but the diet is completely different. Damage to tooth enamel makes dental tissue at the tooth surface damaged and lost in both quantity and quality. Not only the diet, but too much and too much brushing will affect it.

The researchers found signs of tooth enamel damage or cavities on Australopithecus fossils . Based on the traces left, this person must have suffered greatly from toothache or tongue and food impact on his teeth.

So why do prehistoric people have such dental problems when not using sugar and carbonated drinks like we do today? A hypothesis was put forward, perhaps prehistoric people ate a lot of hard food that had an impact on the way we brushed our teeth too hard today.

In addition, prehistoric people do not eat artificial foods that contain as much acid as we do today, but they eat too acidic fruits such as oranges, tangerines and high-grade fruits that contain high levels of acid, causing damage to yeast. teeth. In rare cases, both hard and medium acidic vegetables or fruits, such as potatoes. Eating raw potatoes makes teeth quickly damaged.

Tooth damage is rarely recorded in previous fossil excavations, although they are very common. The reason for this, perhaps the previous researchers did not think about the possibility of prehistoric people having dental problems should have ignored such signs in the teeth of fossils.

Picture 2 of Although not eating sugar, drinking carbonated water, but the ancient people still have tooth decay?
The traces show cavities in prehistoric people.(Photo: Ian Towle).

In addition, tooth decay is also a very common problem today due to excessive consumption of starch and sugar foods, including cereal drinks. This is also considered a problem of the times when people have taken too many carbohydrates and refined sugar into their own diets.

Also according to new research, signs of tooth decay were also found in prehistoric Tong Fossil fossils. Researchers said that perhaps in the diet there were lots of sweet fruits and plants , and forest honey, causing the amount of sugar stored in the teeth to cause tooth damage.

Cavities in prehistoric people may take years to form, when the situation becomes serious, the sufferer will have to suffer from a toothache.

In some fossils, the team also found tooth abrasion and holes in many teeth. This is a relatively uncommon dental problem in modern life but many fossils are found to encounter these problems.

Picture 3 of Although not eating sugar, drinking carbonated water, but the ancient people still have tooth decay?
The holes in the teeth are formed due to the long and continuous impact process.(Photo: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institute).

In order to form a hole in the teeth, a continuous rubbing process is required for a long time, such as placing a rigid object fixed on two teeth, biting the nail continuously, or inserting a tube and moving. between teeth.

This process requires a long time to create the teeth and intentional grooves and holes that make up, so the grooves in the teeth are found on prehistoric fossils, most likely due to Ancient cultural customs.

In addition to cultural issues, these traces also show that prehistoric people know how to use rod-like tools and put them into teeth to clean teeth , remove food that sticks to teeth, or reduce pain when having a toothache; These habits repeat for a long time, leading to teeth grooves.

This study shows that the ancestors of both modern and Neanderthals have such complex behaviors and are far from simple behavior in species with small brains, as a consequence of diet and Different cultures.