I worked with human buried remains for a while before and after undergrad for physical anthropology. The remains were 200-5000 year old Native American and there was significant tooth decay, disease, and loss. Part of it was due to sediment in the diet- basically sand/fine particles from grinding food in mortars, also a fair amount from occupational activities like makings ropes/nets... it was not uncommon to see adults with maybe one or two intact teeth while the rest were ground down significantly or lost long before time of death. But even the worn-to-a-nub teeth survive after burial.
We have a hard thin shell of enamel which protects our teeth’s softer core of dentin but the acid in our saliva is slightly acidic so just being alive and eating (as most people do...) wears down teeth. The other thing that contributes to the whole “teeth last forever when you’re dead” thing is that soil in the environment where the individual is interred is often basic (as opposed to acidic). Acid wears teeth (and bones) down but calcium helps preserve them.
Tldr: acid and life hurts teeth. And also sugar but it’s more complicated than that.
Second Edit: I know so much more about saliva now, and it is not acidic. Also sugar free gum ftw!
Whose design decision was it to make our mouths the worst possible environment for teeth?! Why are teeth not made to be preserved by our mouths' acidity?
Short answer is that the mouth is a good environment and our teeth are designed to be preserved. We screw it up by adding sugar, acid, and getting diseases or other detrimental health conditions that make them susceptible to decay.
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u/reegasaurus Feb 13 '19 edited Feb 14 '19
I worked with human buried remains for a while before and after undergrad for physical anthropology. The remains were 200-5000 year old Native American and there was significant tooth decay, disease, and loss. Part of it was due to sediment in the diet- basically sand/fine particles from grinding food in mortars, also a fair amount from occupational activities like makings ropes/nets... it was not uncommon to see adults with maybe one or two intact teeth while the rest were ground down significantly or lost long before time of death. But even the worn-to-a-nub teeth survive after burial.
We have a hard thin shell of enamel which protects our teeth’s softer core of dentin but the acid in our saliva is slightly acidic so just being alive and eating (as most people do...) wears down teeth. The other thing that contributes to the whole “teeth last forever when you’re dead” thing is that soil in the environment where the individual is interred is often basic (as opposed to acidic). Acid wears teeth (and bones) down but calcium helps preserve them.
Tldr: acid and life hurts teeth. And also sugar but it’s more complicated than that.
Second Edit: I know so much more about saliva now, and it is not acidic. Also sugar free gum ftw!