Primitive Dentistry

[andyBruce]

I've recently booked a dentist appointment, and in the fairly random way that my brain works... I got to wondering about our ancetors (the cave dwelling types, and their relatives!) and how they dealt with tooth issues!

I'm well aware that their diet would have been in no way comparrable to our own diets, with the huge amount of added sugars, sweetners, E numbers and additives.
Would Neandathol and cromagnus (excuse my spelling please!) have experienced tooth problems, such as rot and decay and such like? and how would they have dealt with it?
Was their diet healthier than ours is today? and can we actually improve our diets to be better for our teeth and bodies in general without breaking the bank? I guess living in the wild must be the only viable option!
(and just ignore the outside world, and their laws and things!)

Andy

 

[AuldJum]

They were found to have used a flint tipped bowdrill to literally drill teeth.

Information on this is available through googling.

 

[AuldJum]

No anaesthetic either, probably knock you out, drill then send you on your way with some willow bark.

 

[Barn Owl]

I find it surprising the amount of skulls shown on tv doc's that have full sets of teeth looking in tip top condition.

Oh and I cracked a tooth with a chicken bone last week.

 

[andyBruce]

Yeah, I've often thought the same about the rows of nice shiny teeth in skulls!
With a hint of jealousy i look at my own crumbling teeth! :-(

 

[Barn Owl]

Crumbling is the word!

I blame all the fruit acid I'm eating...

 

[andyBruce]

I blame the fruit, but mostly the gallons of a well known dark coloured fizzy nastyness that i used to drink in my younger stupidity!!!

 

[Barn Owl]

I drink that well known foodstuff and sustenance known as Guiness.

 

[andyBruce]

Im fairly sure that in every way possible, guiness is better for you than " a well known cola"!!!

 

[The Cumbrian]

Pleas don't use the words primitive and dentistry in the same sentence again. My teeth hurt just thinking about it.

Cheers, Michael.

 

[Samon]

I guess their diets didn't effect their teeth mainly because they ate what was in season, sweet fruits in summer and fatty carb rich foods in winter.. not like some of us with fatty, sweet stuff all year round.

however.. they did die quite young so that might explain the teeth in the skulls.

 

[Eric_Methven]

There are many examples of teeth being worn down to stumps. That can be caused by eating stone ground bread and meal, with bits of stone incorporated into the food. It wears the enamel off and slowly grinds the teeth right down.
Early peoples did have dental hygiene problems, toothache, abcess, blown abcess where there ends up a hole right through the jaw bone. They would have suffered great pain and had terrible bad breath too.
Look at all the victorian images of people with black rotten teeth. Even without sugars, teeth wear out, break, are knocked out etc. It wasn't nice at all. Even in the last century, many a father bought for his daughter on her 21st birthday a full extraction of perfectly healthy teeth and a set of dentures to replace them. This was because it was believed to be enevitable so they did it earlier rather than later - to avoid unnecessary expense for her husband and to save the subsequent pain of toothache.

Eric

 

[andyBruce]

ouch! I dont like the sound of that!

 

[geordienemisis]

Its a big topic wilderness dentistry, I think because the world is now so small with planes, trains cars Etc. I have had several teeth removed some not done by the dentist and try to keep them clean as possible. I still find it appalling that some people don't bother ever to clean their teeth and have green mold around the gums and teeth like sugar puffs. It would be a bit hard if on an expedition or something but a lot of planning and getting the right subjects taught is the key.

have just googled it and read this from WW1
The result of this was quite disastrous. Evacuation for dental causes from Gallipoli in 1 Division alone was 600 by July 1915. (These figures were a vast improvement on the dental casualties of the Boer War, when 28 000 troops were incapacitated because of defective teeth and quite a few died from the effects of abscessed teeth)

 

[Toddy]

Eric's right; from the advent of farming onwards teeth are dreadful. Our dentition hasn't caught up with our sticky carbohydrate rich diet and our longevity.
That's not to say teeth before that were brilliant, but they didn't develop the same caries pattern.
Untreated abcesses can, and did, kill. Not all of them though, but having suffered one I can truthfully say Burns was right when he said that toothache was the hell of all diseases

Folks with no teeth however manage remarkably well to eat most things. Mostly because humanity cooks it's food

Anyway, there are two really, really good books available.
One is called, "Where there is no Doctor", and one is "Where there is no Dentist". Both are well worth a good read.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[santaman2000]

There are many examples of teeth being worn down to stumps. That can be caused by eating stone ground bread and meal, with bits of stone incorporated into the food. It wears the enamel off and slowly grinds the teeth right down.
Early peoples did have dental hygiene problems, toothache, abcess, blown abcess where there ends up a hole right through the jaw bone. They would have suffered great pain and had terrible bad breath too.
Look at all the victorian images of people with black rotten teeth. Even without sugars, teeth wear out, break, are knocked out etc. It wasn't nice at all. Even in the last century, many a father bought for his daughter on her 21st birthday a full extraction of perfectly healthy teeth and a set of dentures to replace them. This was because it was believed to be enevitable so they did it earlier rather than later - to avoid unnecessary expense for her husband and to save the subsequent pain of toothache.

Eric

The Amish often still do this at age 16. Sons and daughters.

 

[santaman2000]

Eric's right; from the advent of farming onwards teeth are dreadful. Our dentition hasn't caught up with our sticky carbohydrate rich diet and our longevity...

Eric & Samon. Before farming human diet was indeed different, but as you & Samon say, so was life span. People usually died before dental problems were a real issue. Oddly (or perhaps not so oddly) by the middle ages those who could afford meat sliced it extremely thin so as to be able to chew it with poor teeth.

 

[Eric_Methven]

Oddly (or perhaps not so oddly) by the middle ages those who could afford meat sliced it extremely thin so as to be able to chew it with poor teeth.

People will always find a way to eat. They always have. Since the earliest of times many an old person (toothless perhaps) would have a daughter specifically kept unmaried to look after them in their old age. One of her duties would have been to chew their food for them. Much like a mother will pre-chew food for an infant today.

 

[andyBruce]

hmmm, yum, pre-chewed food, my favorite! So this is what I have to look forward to in later life!?

 

[Toddy]

Nah, just a taste for soup, porage and custard

M