930 Years Without Knowledge of Dental Hygiene

[person0]

So as I was brushing my teeth this evening my mind randomly wandered to Adam and Eve, and the fact that they did not have toothbrushes and toothpaste.  Even with such things in our modern world, people experience dental decay with varying causes.  Although food could easily be mashed with rocks and tools to make it edible for those without teeth, for the sake of discussion, I will assume Adam maintained the majority of his teeth until death.  Some theories I have come up with to how this could be possible:

• During that time of earth's existence it was in the early stages of becoming fallen and dying, Adam and Eve's physical bodies lasted longer as the rate of aging and mortal decay had not yet accelerated to full speed.
  • If Adam's normal bones lasted 930 years, it is reasonable to assume his teeth would have no issue keeping up with the rest.
  • Genetics would fall in this same category.  I know people with immaculate dental hygiene habits who still have bad luck with tooth and gum issues.
• Our modern diets include high amounts of sugar and other additives that could affect dental hygiene in ways that living off the land would not affect someone, hence, we need dental hygiene more because we partake of teeth destroying substances on a regular basis.
  • Possible issue with this theory is that there are many through history who have been affected by tooth decay and other issues, even while living off the land, such as George Washington
• Usage of primitive teeth and gum cleaning methods could have been discovered, learned, or taught early on such as the still extant use of the Salvadora persica.

Just some thoughts.  Possibly all three of those factors could have contributed.  Regardless, I'm grateful for my toothbrush!

[Fether]

20 minutes ago, person0 said:

So as I was brushing my teeth this evening my mind randomly wandered to Adam and Eve, and the fact that they did not have toothbrushes and toothpaste.  Even with such things in our modern world, people experience dental decay with varying causes.  Although food could easily be mashed with rocks and tools to make it edible for those without teeth, for the sake of discussion, I will assume Adam maintained the majority of his teeth until death.  Some theories I have come up with to how this could be possible:

• During that time of earth's existence it was in the early stages of becoming fallen and dying, Adam and Eve's physical bodies lasted longer as the rate of aging and mortal decay had not yet accelerated to full speed.
  • If Adam's normal bones lasted 930 years, it is reasonable to assume his teeth would have no issue keeping up with the rest.
  • Genetics would fall in this same category.  I know people with immaculate dental hygiene habits who still have bad luck with tooth and gum issues.
• Our modern diets include high amounts of sugar and other additives that could affect dental hygiene in ways that living off the land would not affect someone, hence, we need dental hygiene more because we partake of teeth destroying substances on a regular basis.
  • Possible issue with this theory is that there are many through history who have been affected by tooth decay and other issues, even while living off the land, such as George Washington
• Usage of primitive teeth and gum cleaning methods could have been discovered, learned, or taught early on such as the still extant use of the Salvadora persica.

Just some thoughts.  Possibly all three of those factors could have contributed.  Regardless, I'm grateful for my toothbrush!

Interesting! 

I worked as a dental assistant for a while and learned about infections in the tooth root. This would require one to have a root canal. On occasion patients would come in with swollen faces because of the infection. The dentist would drop everything he was doing to extract the tooth and relieve the infection. If left to itself, it would eventually cause the veins to get blocked and blood would not get to the brain eventually killing the person.

In a world with no dental hygiene, how common would this have been??

[person0]

2 minutes ago, Fether said:

On occasion patients would come in with swollen faces because of the infection. . . In a world with no dental hygiene, how common would this have been??

This actually happened to me.  I went to the dentist for a routine visit when I was in my teens.  Woke up the next morning and my face was swollen because a tooth which is partially fake had infected at the root due to the chip which had occurred many years prior.  The dentist had to slice across my gums (twice actually since he didn't go deep enough the first time - only numbing shots, no anesthesia - extremely painful) and 'bleed' the swelling from my face, while using the vacuum suction tool to help.  This only alleviated some.  He performed the root canal which also relieved a bunch more, then I had to take an antibiotic for a week or so.

I would assume they would just rip the infected tooth out to start.  Surely there would be enough pain to determine which tooth was the cause.  Perhaps they could have used some 'bleeding' technique for the swelling.  But without some improvisation, I'd say there were probably plenty of people who died.

[CV75]

9 hours ago, person0 said:

So as I was brushing my teeth this evening my mind randomly wandered to Adam and Eve, and the fact that they did not have toothbrushes and toothpaste.  Even with such things in our modern world, people experience dental decay with varying causes.  Although food could easily be mashed with rocks and tools to make it edible for those without teeth, for the sake of discussion, I will assume Adam maintained the majority of his teeth until death.  Some theories I have come up with to how this could be possible:

• During that time of earth's existence it was in the early stages of becoming fallen and dying, Adam and Eve's physical bodies lasted longer as the rate of aging and mortal decay had not yet accelerated to full speed.
  • If Adam's normal bones lasted 930 years, it is reasonable to assume his teeth would have no issue keeping up with the rest.
  • Genetics would fall in this same category.  I know people with immaculate dental hygiene habits who still have bad luck with tooth and gum issues.
• Our modern diets include high amounts of sugar and other additives that could affect dental hygiene in ways that living off the land would not affect someone, hence, we need dental hygiene more because we partake of teeth destroying substances on a regular basis.
  • Possible issue with this theory is that there are many through history who have been affected by tooth decay and other issues, even while living off the land, such as George Washington
• Usage of primitive teeth and gum cleaning methods could have been discovered, learned, or taught early on such as the still extant use of the Salvadora persica.

Just some thoughts.  Possibly all three of those factors could have contributed.  Regardless, I'm grateful for my toothbrush!

I think they might have been inspired to develop them quite early on in connection with multiplying and replenishing the earth

 

[Fether]

3 hours ago, CV75 said:

I think they might have been inspired to develop them quite early on in connection with multiplying and replenishing the earth

 

Did God teach them?

Were There cavities in the garden of Eden??

[CV75]

35 minutes ago, Fether said:

Did God teach them?

Were There cavities in the garden of Eden??

I don't know. Brushing their teeth in the Garden could have been one aspect or means of tending it (there are beneficial microflora in the mouth and all over the body), as with bathing (irrigation) and grooming (ordering). I don't think they were subject to cavities, though until after the Fall; the same with having bad breath or BO.

[SpiritDragon]

I've actually thought about this topic several times myself. I agree that there is just plain too much we don't know to come to any clear conclusions though. It could be that early humans had superior genetics that had undergone less mutations than ours have today and as such they were simply much more resistant to aging and decay than we are today. It is also possible that they could have regrown teeth more than once, although I don't really think so. We also don't know that they weren't taught dental hygiene practices that are even better than those we practice today.

My suspicion is that it had a lot to do with what they ate. If they were given a law of health to live by such as our modern day word of wisdom or the Old Testament "Kosher" eating prohibitions and they followed it to the letter this would have helped to ensure that their superior genes were continuing to express in favour of longevity.

While our current dental model focuses heavily on the idea that bacteria eat sugar causing decay, there are other theories out there as to what causes tooth decay as well. Some maintain that it is simply a matter of having ample minerals to continually remineralize the teeth. Another theory suggests that sugar is the culprit but not for the reasons we think, but because it shifts body chemistry such that it creates a systemic environment in the body leading to the loss of minerals from tissues such as bones and teeth instead of the homeostatic process of continuous break down and repair of tissues. I'm not saying that dentistry is wrong, but I am saying that it is also completely possible that their oral health was simply superior because they met needs to keep it that way by doing things that we aren't even taught by the field of dentistry.

Along those lines, I did read an interesting study once in an old book that compared various amounts of tooth brushing (and flossing) and various amounts of vitamin C intake to level of dental plaque. Interestingly the higher levels of vitamin C were better at predicting lower levels of plaque than more frequent tooth-brushing. Even in the lowest brushing and flossing groups if the vitamin C intake was higher the study participants had the lowest levels of plaque.

Didn't it also come out a few years ago that flossing is completely unscientific (has no real evidence of preventing oral disease or tooth decay), but the dental organizations recommend it anyway?

Edited September 24, 2017 by SpiritDragon