Mike in Denver
August 22nd, 2005, 10:08 AM
I found this little article at ananova.com. While I accept their findings, I'm not sure about their explanation. I don't have a better explanation, though.
Enkidu
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Medieval peasants had 'better teeth'
Medieval peasants had better teeth than people today because they spent longer chewing their food, say researchers.
Professor Wolfgang Arnold, from the University of Witten/Herdecke, studied the remains of people buried between the 5th and 9th centuries.
He found they had better teeth than their descendants, even though they never brushed their teeth.
He said: "The portrayal of the typical person from the middle ages as having rotten teeth is wrong.
"There was sweet food items available then, but despite this and the fact there were no toothbrushes, not a single body showed signs of tooth decay.
"The food they ate then, with lots of raw vegetables or cereal that was not made soggy with milk, had to be chewed a lot more, and that is why tooth decay was so much reduced."
Enkidu
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Medieval peasants had 'better teeth'
Medieval peasants had better teeth than people today because they spent longer chewing their food, say researchers.
Professor Wolfgang Arnold, from the University of Witten/Herdecke, studied the remains of people buried between the 5th and 9th centuries.
He found they had better teeth than their descendants, even though they never brushed their teeth.
He said: "The portrayal of the typical person from the middle ages as having rotten teeth is wrong.
"There was sweet food items available then, but despite this and the fact there were no toothbrushes, not a single body showed signs of tooth decay.
"The food they ate then, with lots of raw vegetables or cereal that was not made soggy with milk, had to be chewed a lot more, and that is why tooth decay was so much reduced."