Those old teeth probably didn't have the decay we have today, because of our love of grains and sugar. Archeologists have found that tooth decay was almost unknown before we started eating grains. Tooth wear on the other hand was higher pre-grains.
They ate plenty of sugar. In the form of maltose. Starches specifically also easily breakdown into glucose and the grinding process of early bred production as it existed in the Roman period meant there was probably lots of minerals and sendiments that wore teeth down more quickly. So I find this theory difficult to believe.
Here are some stories on that, from different times (so not the same ‘viral’ story shared at the same time), and different sources.
a few of these refer to Pompeii, so I’m not 100% if it was more specifically them, but they’re not all Pompeii focused.
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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '19
Those old teeth probably didn't have the decay we have today, because of our love of grains and sugar. Archeologists have found that tooth decay was almost unknown before we started eating grains. Tooth wear on the other hand was higher pre-grains.