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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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...
[1] http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1678...
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!
Caries is the appropriate medical terminology.
Source: wife is a dentist.
Neat! Thanks for teaching me something today!
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.
We use caries in Australia as well.
We do? I've never heard it used in place of cavities.
We definitely use both.
I hear professionals use 'caries' when talking professionally, and 'cavities' when talking to layfolk. I've not heard non-professionals use caries much here in Aus. Mileage may vary, I guess.
source: not a dentist, but have had a bunch of dental work done...
Thank you for this. I was curious, but didn't want to see any images of rotting or drilled teeth. Did they also mention lifespan issues? I expect rotting teeth is less of an issue if you don't live past 50.
There are plenty of people getting major dental work done before their 30's.
I have couple of friends that had to get implants and they kept quite a good dental hygiene.
Bleaching, diet, life style and genetics potentially play a more critical role than age.
If they're getting multiple non-wisdom teeth pulled before age 30, methamphetamines are likely a big part of their lifestyle.
You're getting downvoted but that's exactly what happened to my mother. In the 1950s doctors prescribed methamphetamine to overweight children. It was considered a miracle cure. Worked great! But her first root canal was at 19 and it went downhill quickly from there.
I'm just repeating what I've been told by half a dozen dentists. Meth addicts get pretty good at fooling people, but they don't fool many dentists.
This isn't the US none of them are using meth, my GF's father lost most of the teeth by 45, my GF for 6 years now is using what I call "Industrial Strength" toothpaste (3000 PPM fluoride) which was prescribed by the dentist because she were getting lesions left and right on her teeth which could lead to cavities, she was also ordered to stop using mouthwash because it apparently kills the "wrong" bacteria and to stay away from gum and soda.
Can Meth fuck up your teeth? sure, so can working in a sulfur mine it doesn't mean that everyone who has dental issues is a meth head.
There is plenty for room for genetics and lifestyle to affect your teeth without having to go into social extremes. And while some what anecdotal but on the other hand I open beer bottles with my teeth, I used to smoke for almost 10 years, didn't use to really brush that regularly especially between say the ages of 10 to 18 and I didn't had a single cavity yet.
And in one occasion when I had to get some dental work on a wisdom tooth that needed to be ground down a bit to not hit my upper gum the dentist said I was lucky and that my teeth were like 2000 year old cement and that he had to increase the water flow to keep the tooth and the drill head cool. Different people have different teeth there is variation in tooth composition and density between people just like with bones and many other body parts. Add to that different bacterial ecosystems, different immunoresponse, different saliva production (amount, mineral count, acidity etc.) and you get a large spectrum of outcomes for your teeth even without you doing meth or getting constant preventative dental treatment.
I lost 4 teeth to my orthodontist in my teens - certainly no meth involved.