We struggle with cavities, bleeding gum, receding gums etc...

The Egyptians tended to die frequently of dental abscesses on account of all the sweet food, and all the sand in their bread wearing down their teeth.

It was worse than ours, but at the same time gross ass teeth has always been unappealing.

Neanderthals and pre-civilized humans had pretty good sets of chompers, but this is mainly due to a lack of starchy diets so prevalent in agricultura societies. Once the agricultural revolution takes into effect, tooth decay increases dramatically

There are ways of brushing your teeth (charcoal, twigs, resin) since many rules were had on hygiene. I believe Medieval Europeans had laws that permitted divorce on the grounds of malodorous breath, so it must have been a relatively common problem.

Isn't that why we have wisdom teeth? For when our back teeth deteriorate, we got some back ups?

>people get these surgically removed

I hate the dentist so much I suffered the pain of letting them grow in. It wasn't even that bad tbqh.

The standard practice was to pull a tooth that was bothering you, so people indeed lost a lot of teeth at an early age. Nowadays missing teeth is embarassing so people undergo procedures like rootcanals and filings to save them, which are more involved.

>>1682802
Wisdom teeth are genetic leftovers from when humans had more elongated jaws to chew tougher plant matter.

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215KB, 1714x964px

>>1682784

Modern processed food and drink are full of sugars, starches, and acids at levels that wouldn't have existed for much of human history and are much worse for your teeth.

>>1682828
>Wisdom teeth are genetic leftovers from when humans had more elongated jaws to chew tougher plant matter.

Thats interesting, kinda wish I knew how genetics work now

for hunter gatherers they were fine for their lifespans.
for farmers it varied, but the more grains they ate the worse their teeth were.

nowadays a lot of dental problems come from shit diets consisting of sugar and sugar and sugar.

>>1682789
It wasn't the sand in their bread, it was that they made the mistake of inventing enriched flour before they invented floss and toothbrushes.

Seriously, nothing will kill your teeth faster than white bread, if left unchecked. Enriched flower breaks down extremely fine, gets between your teeth and gums, and the most acidic of all the bacteria thrive like mad on that stuff. It's worse than corn syrup.

Among the Egyptians, however, it was only really a problem among the aristocracy - the peasant stock couldn't afford that stuff.

>>1682802
Generally, you don't have to have them removed unless they are impacted. If you don't get them removed then, it's a good way to lose all your teeth, or, worst case scenario, your entire lower jaw.

>>1682784
they didn't consume large amounts of processed sugars and syrups

>>1682867
>implying corn syrup is even particular bad
No worse than sugar in general desu.

There's this guy who studied tribes in the amazonas and he basically said that not eating sugary fruits and vitamin D instead makes your teeth perfect

>>1682784
Have a fairly degenerate relative who never took care of his teeth and had them pulled instead of filled, most of his teeth were gone by 50 and then had to eat mush food like a baby.

>>1682869
I don't think so. I think it's a meme pushed by greedy dentists because even though it is major oral surgery they can pull it off in their office for a cool couple of grand inside 1/2 hour in most cases for a set of 4.

Dr. Price Activator X and other related Russian/German research
K2

Wasn't a huge issue until sugar/simple carbs got popular

Still isn't an issue for those societies that have access to regular k2 consumption.(and avoid sugar/simple carbs)

maybe they just eat apples. i also remember some meme about crab eye toothpaste

>>1682784
highly fibrous diets naturally brush your teeth. further, teeth enamel is about 5 SDs thicker in modern africans, and seems tobe even stronger than that in premodern people

bad teeth probably acted as a selection filter to get rid of people with weak immune systems, kind of like parasites. parasites ultimately help our species. any variety of human that got rid of parasites ended up succumbing to more broad immune problems.

it's one of the reasons nice teeth are such an important factor in mate selection, it helps us filter biological information. it's also one of the reasons kissing became a genetically encoded mating ritual