Any dentists, dental hygienists, etc., can you riddle me this?

[raccoon]

Starting in the late 1600's, sugar consumption in Europe increased dramatically. Before, it had been extremely expensive as basically only used by the wealthy.

It would seem that before this increase in sugar consumption, people's teeth would have been in better shape. Anybody recall ever reading or studying about this?

[trotsky]

1. I am none of the above, but I have indeed read that...

prior to refined sugar entering our diets, tooth decay was basically unheard of. Let me see if I can find something.

[Codeine]

2. There was plenty of tooth decay before sugar.

Archeological evidence for dental caries is common, even in the Neolithic, and primitive dental drilling is believed to be extant as far back as 7000 BC. The notion that there was no tooth decay before widespread use of sugar is a myth, unfortunately. Any carbohydrate can lead to tooth decay, and as humans have consumed fruit in large quantities since prehistory it stands to reason we'd experience cavities during that time.

Also older grain preparation techniques often left a fair amount of grit in food there was also a mechanical aspect of tooth damage occurring which is largely absent now.

However, there is an observable and large spike in tooth decay when sugar becomes available in Europe, so in that you are correct in assuming our teeth were in better shape before, but not necessarily good shape.