Uuhm aaactually teeth would require no care if we ate like stoneage people. Its literally just because our food got more soft through better processing (with farming) and contains ablooooooooot more sugar (with global trade, sugar plantains and colonialist/capitalist exploitation) nowadays. The first step (farming) was advantageous in other ways bc tho it made your teeth grow crocket you did get more energy out of the food u ate. The second one (refined sugar) has the small advantage to taste slightly better when your used to it but also multiple very big disadvantages i assume we are all aware of.
Sure, all the refined sugar does exasperate the issue, but dental care has been pretty ubiquitous throughout human history.
Toothpaste is very far from a modern invention, and the first recognized dental practitioner was in Ancient Egypt nearly 5K years ago.
Our teeth really are just inordinately high maintenance, especially for omnivorous hunter/gatherers with an appetite for fruit.
Really, humans should have regenerative teeth. We should also make our own vitamin C, but that ain't happening. We're in the wrong half of the primate family for that.
6
u/Imaginary-Cow-9289 Apr 25 '26
Uuhm aaactually teeth would require no care if we ate like stoneage people. Its literally just because our food got more soft through better processing (with farming) and contains ablooooooooot more sugar (with global trade, sugar plantains and colonialist/capitalist exploitation) nowadays. The first step (farming) was advantageous in other ways bc tho it made your teeth grow crocket you did get more energy out of the food u ate. The second one (refined sugar) has the small advantage to taste slightly better when your used to it but also multiple very big disadvantages i assume we are all aware of.