
How our ancestors drilled rotten teeth - pepys
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160229-how-our-ancestors-drilled-rotten-teeth
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gregwebs
This article delves into a lot of speculation to the reason behind the
increase of tooth decay in civilization. This issue was studied thoroughly 100
years ago [1] by a dentist who wanted to find control groups and get to the
bottom of the issue instead of just speculate.

[1]
[http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/price9.html](http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/price9.html)

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industriousthou
In my mid-twenties I had a pretty bad cavity that for various reasons I didn't
have filled right away. Although it was painful, I found myself sort of
instinctively digging into it with different tools pretty much all the time.
It just felt right, like trying to pop a deep pimple or scratching an itch. I
can definitely see how primitive dentistry would be a thing.

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bradley_long
After reading this, I was so glad that I was born in the 21st century! I can
feel the pain by just looking at the monitor. The pain travels from thousand
years ago and reaches my teeth!!

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stuxnet79
Medical science has come a long way in just the past century and a half. Not
many stop to appreciate how far we have come and IMO how far we need to go. We
still are unable to properly diagnose and treat most of the prevalent mental
illnesses.

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hyperpallium
\tangent Apparently, according to the archeological record, we had fewer
cavities before modern sugar - and even fewer before the grains of the
agricultural revolution.

Civilization solves problems created by civilization.

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c3534l
Yes, they're called diseases of affluence. Heart disease from fatty foods and
lack of exercise, obesity, and even, I suppose, things like drug addiction. I
even remember reading some classical philosophy in which the philosopher noted
doctors of the time loved to prescribe vigorous walking to all their wealthy
patients.

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mattlutze
>Heart disease from fatty foods

My understanding recently has been that cholesterol and other hypertension
indicators are more strongly correlated with carbohydrates and genetics than
fats.

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c3534l
Fair enough. I should have just said lifestyle.

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phkn1
As someone about to go in for a root canal, I feel a bit better about how far
medical science has come. :-)

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firass
Please consider getting the tooth extracted instead. At the very least,
research root canals and make an informed decision.

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yial
I know I personally prefer (cosmetic benefit) of not loosing a tooth. Out of
several people I know who have had root canals, all have been happy with the
result...

Disclaimer: All have been upper middle income with relatively good dental
insurance in the US.

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erkkie
And root canals can be fixed, and re-fixed, and re-re-fixed multiple times if
things happen to go wrong. None of the alternatives we have so far come close
to a natural tooth, even if it's just a crowned dead root stump.

The reason implants suck is that they don't have a peridontal ligament,
instead they're rigidly attached to the bone. This means all kinds of issues
like bone resorption due to non-absorbed shocks, lack of an natural immune
barrier, poor proprioception.

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marshray
I know one thing that hasn't been too good for my teeth is GERD.

I wonder if that's a contributing factor. Maybe it was not a common ailment
before agriculture.

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wapapaloobop
Speculatively, there seems to be a double whammy effect of carbohydrate
consumption when it comes to teeth.

(1) direct effect of sugar/carbs feeding bacteria in the mouth which produce
acid which etches away at enamel, (2) indirect effect of pleasure/getting
'high', which assists oral bacteria by suppressing the immune system

I've never seen a discussion including (2), or gauging its relative
importance. The effect seems to be more pronounced with harder drugs like
crack cocaine.

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DanBC
Crack cocaine doesn't affect teeth because "the high affects the immune
system". Crack cocaine affects the teeth because

1) Poor dental hygiene

2) Poor nutrition

3) mostly because it causes dry mouth

4) it can cause tooth grinding

Telling people who use crack to chew sugar free gum would help a bit.

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SEJeff
Another suggestion might be to not consume crack cocaine and instead seek help
in the form of rehab. It is much better than sugar free gum.

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headShrinker
Crack addicts are more likely to take gum crewing advice than addiction
advice.

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known
Our ancestors might have been 'indirectly' taking
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenoxymethylpenicillin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenoxymethylpenicillin)

~~~
pbhjpbhj
How?

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EwanG
Reader's Digest Version - Rotten teeth weren't really much of a problem until
we started living from agriculture in earnest. By then we had already mastered
stone arrow tips, which scrape away decay as well from your teeth as from
other bones. So some smaller stone tips are likely tooth scrapers or
microflint drills.

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rjzzleep
Thanks, people are already blaming life expentancy for it, but it's very much
a lifestyle issue. [0]

It's impossible to deny the link between tooth decay, sugars and acidic diets
and bacteria growth. On a sidenote, kissing your child when you have caries
might also not be such a good idea. [1]

[0]
[http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/DataStatistics/FindDataByTopic/Dent...](http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/DataStatistics/FindDataByTopic/DentalCaries/DentalCariesAdults20to64.htm#Table1)

[1]
[http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1678...](http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1678-77572008000200013&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en)

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tonyarkles
This is by no means a criticism. I'm guessing you've got French roots (based
on the use of the word caries instead of cavities). It made me smile to see!

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windexh8er
Caries is the appropriate medical terminology.

Source: wife is a dentist.

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tonyarkles
Neat! Thanks for teaching me something today!

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TheOtherHobbes
I always assumed caries was the generic term for tooth decay of any severity,
while cavities are the holes you get if caries isn't stopped.

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taivare
I worked with a waitress , whom died from a bad tooth . She wasn't able to
receive care due to being working poor. I was thinking just today our system
of health care is a regressive tax on the poor. a single payer system would be
progressive taxation for the wealthy , if they needed extra value medical
services , big deal they could afford it . They could afford to go to walled
gardens ; for exclusive care. I shouldn't be to harsh , after all they support
the Luxury economy !

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windexh8er
Dentists have a code of ethics just as any other doctor. Any legitimate
dentist would have cared for the patient since it was an emergency situation.
Most, again legitimate, dentists would have worked with the patient to write
it off or do the work pro bono. They're humans like the rest of us and many of
them care for their patients deeply. There are those that ruin the reputation
for the upstanding, but that doesn't represent dentists as a whole. I think
you're conflating two exclusive ideas here. Keep in mind dentistry is one of
the few areas of practice in the United States that will provide estimates up
front, prior to treatment. Dentists are one of the easier areas of health care
to "shop" comparatively.

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ceejayoz
It's not necessarily that simple.

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/02...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR2007022702116.html)

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Scoundreller
All-on-one-page "Print" link: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/02...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR2007022702116_pf.html)

