Why the Romans had Better Teeth than Modern Europeans

Transcript
0:03 The invasion of Greece had begun. The Persian ships were drawn up on the beach at Marathon;
0:10 soldiers in their myriads massed on the shore. In their midst was Hippias, former tyrant of Athens,
0:17 come to reclaim his city. The night before, he had dreamed that he was destined to be buried
0:24 in his motherland. But as he stood on a sandy bank, he coughed, and one of his teeth fell out.
0:31 After searching for it in vain, Hippias lamented: “we shall never conquer this land; for this tooth
0:38 has been buried here in my place!” By the time he landed at Marathon,
0:43 Hippias was well into his eighties, more than old enough to be excused a few vagrant teeth.
0:50 But he was far from the only classical personage with a less than brilliant smile.
0:57 Augustus, for example, had a mouth full of rotten stumps. And when he was still
1:03 in his late twenties, Nero had to have a tooth pulled, presumably because of a serious cavity.
1:09 Despite such practical experience, the Greeks and Romans never understood the root causes of
1:16 tooth decay. As a result, they tended to regard dental care as a matter of cosmetics, not hygiene.
1:25 The standard, and often sole, implement employed to clean teeth was a toothpick.
1:31 From the slivers of mastic wood plied by humble hands to the silver and gold models flourished
1:38 by kings, toothpicks were correspondingly ubiquitous, and were even given as gifts.
1:45 Toothpicks were paired with tooth powders, which were rubbed over the teeth and gums with
1:50 an enthusiastic finger. Roman authors listed dozens of recipes. In addition to abrasive
1:58 agents like pumice, pulverized bone, powdered glass, and crushed shell, various concoctions
2:05 included such ingredients as sheep sweat and the ash of a wolf’s head. Some powders would
2:13 certainly have whitened smiles, though only those few that incorporated herbs and spices
2:18 beneficial for the teeth and gums would have made any positive contribution to dental health.
2:25 The Romans believed – or at least liked to claim – that certain Spanish tribes rinsed
2:31 their teeth with human urine (aged for the purpose in cisterns). Since all of
2:37 our references to this supposed practice are secondhand or satirical, however, it’s more
2:43 likely that we’re dealing with anti-barbarian prejudice than with any historical custom.
2:50 In light of the fact that we cannot conclusively discount the use of urine as a mouthwash, it is
2:56 perhaps unsurprising that bad breath was a chronic condition in the classical world, despite such
3:03 antidotes as honey-soaked wool, mouse ash, and unmixed wine. “Among all the animals,” one Roman
3:12 author observed, “man is most prone to bad breath, from bad food, from bad teeth, and especially from
3:20 old age.” Toothache seems to have been almost equally prevalent, not least because the remedies
3:26 prescribed by ancient authors – which included the burnt heads of mad dogs, grains of sand from
3:33 the horns of snails, and boiled frogs – would have done little more than distract sufferers.
3:40 Before we plunge into the agonies of ancient dentistry, a brief word about
3:45 this video’s sponsor. Established Titles sells certificates to small plots of land in Scotland,
3:52 which – in keeping with historic Scottish custom – enable recipients to call themselves Lord or Lady.
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4:45 As an additional perk, the first 200 people who purchase a title pack with my link will be
4:51 granted plots quite close to mine. Established Titles makes a great last-minute gift, so take
4:58 advantage of the Labor Day sale going on now, head to establishedtitles.com/toldinstone, and use the
5:06 code TOLDINSTONE for an additional 10% off. Returning to matters of the mouth.
5:14 Although doctors were already extracting teeth and wiring shattered jaws in Classical Greece,
5:20 most of our knowledge about ancient dentistry comes from Roman sources. Broken teeth were
5:27 filed down, infected gums were lanced; but in most cases, a dentist’s task was nothing
5:34 more or less than pulling teeth. Extractions were not undertaken lightly: medical handbooks
5:42 emphasized the risks of a careless operation, which ranged from a dislocated jaw to death.
5:50 Yet teeth were pulled, frequently enough that “tooth doctors” were a familiar presence in Roman
5:57 cities. The process differed from today’s primarily in the absence of anesthesia:
6:03 the gum was pulled back, the tooth was loosened by being worked back and forth, and the extraction
6:09 was performed with a stylus or forceps. A drain in the Roman Forum yielded 86 teeth – all with
6:18 deep cavities – which had apparently washed out from a dentist’s shop. Impressively, not a single
6:25 tooth had been broken during the procedure. With the possible exception of a Hellenistic
6:31 mummy found with a linen-packed tooth, there is no evidence for cavity fillings. Ancient dentists,
6:38 however, were perfectly capable of strengthening teeth with gold wire; an early Roman law
6:44 specifically exempted such fastenings from a general prohibition on burying gold with a body.
6:51 Though never common, artificial teeth – usually in the form of dental bridges – are well-attested.
6:58 By the Roman imperial era, dentures were made of everything from ivory to boxwood.
7:06 The effectiveness of ancient dental care can best be judged from the skeletons recovered at Pompeii
7:12 and Herculaneum. A cursory glance leaves a positive impression. Only about a third of
7:19 the adult skeletons found in the boat sheds at Herculaneum, for example, were missing teeth,
7:25 and relatively few had cavities. A closer look, however, reveals a more complex picture.
7:33 One middle-aged lady in the sheds, for example, boasted a perfect smile.
7:39 But a man of about the same age lying nearby had lost no fewer than seven teeth, and was suffering
7:46 from four serious cavities and four abscesses, one so deep that it drained into his sinuses.
7:54 Wealth seems to have been no guarantee of dental health. A young girl wearing expensive jewelry,
8:00 for example, already had five cavities – probably because her family could afford to
8:06 give her plenty of snacks smothered in expensive (and sugary) honey.
8:12 The leisure class was, however, spared the sort of wear visible in the mouth of a young fisherman,
8:18 whose teeth were badly worn on one side from biting nets on a daily basis.
8:26 Whether they were rich or poor, Romans ate a great deal of bread, typically made from flour
8:31 ground on basalt millstones. Flakes of stone from the milling process made their way into loaves
8:39 and cakes, wearing away at the upper surfaces of Roman teeth. The bases of those teeth, meanwhile,
8:46 were almost invariably caked with plaque, since toothpicks and tooth powders – though effective
8:53 at removing food scraps and burnishing smiles – were not very good at thorough cleaning.
9:00 Despite all these problems, the teeth of most Romans – and, for that matter,
9:06 of the Greeks and other ancient peoples – were better than one might expect, largely because,
9:11 in the absence of processed sugar, oral bacteria were less aggressive than they are today.
9:19 Cavities still occurred; but the pervasive blackened teeth and hollow cheeks of early
9:24 modern Europe were nearly as distant from the Roman experience as they are from ours.
9:31 If you enjoyed this video, please consider supporting toldinstone on Patreon. You might also
9:38 enjoy my book, Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants. Thanks for watching.

SUMMARY: Sugar bad for teeth.

They must have had better eyes, too.

J/k

Not even close.

They’re as pretty as any Roman broad, they just need nose jobs.

Try this one weird secret will restore teeth lost by cavities “Drink this one secret ingredient each night before bed to regrow lost teeth!”

https://www.youtube.com/c/toldinstone/videos

Shark extract? ;^)

It’s not the sugar, per se, it’s the BACTERIA THAT FEED ON SUGAR and excrete ACID that destroys tooth enamel............................

lol- Close- cuttlefish bone meal lol

there was a youtube add today infact about how none of those things caused bad teeth- (sugar, smoking, brushing, bacteria etc)- but ya had to go click on a video outside youtube to find out what the ‘one weird trick’ was to restore decayed teeth lol-

:^)

Interesting!

Just what I wanted, as I was about to bite into some homemade bread.

‘Face

;o]

British?

Would have been hard to know before now. Romans were always having to suppress a smile...

“...He has a wife, you know...”

The ancient Romans probably didn’t have cane sugar. Their primary sweetener would probably have been honey, which would have been expensive.

Yup, it’s in the script.

The Egyptians had tooth problems because of the way they ground their flour to make bread — abrasive tiny stone fragments. Luckily for them, lifespans were short, but the Pharaoh Hatshepsut died of a tooth abscess and extraction.

Transcript
0:03	The invasion of Greece had begun. The Persian ships were drawn up on the beach at Marathon;
0:10	soldiers in their myriads massed on the shore. In their midst was Hippias, former tyrant of Athens,
0:17	come to reclaim his city. The night before, he had dreamed that he was destined to be buried
0:24	in his motherland. But as he stood on a sandy bank, he coughed, and one of his teeth fell out.
0:31	After searching for it in vain, Hippias lamented: “we shall never conquer this land; for this tooth
0:38	has been buried here in my place!” By the time he landed at Marathon,
0:43	Hippias was well into his eighties, more than old enough to be excused a few vagrant teeth.
0:50	But he was far from the only classical personage with a less than brilliant smile.
0:57	Augustus, for example, had a mouth full of rotten stumps. And when he was still
1:03	in his late twenties, Nero had to have a tooth pulled, presumably because of a serious cavity.
1:09	Despite such practical experience, the Greeks and Romans never understood the root causes of
1:16	tooth decay. As a result, they tended to regard dental care as a matter of cosmetics, not hygiene.
1:25	The standard, and often sole, implement employed to clean teeth was a toothpick.
1:31	From the slivers of mastic wood plied by humble hands to the silver and gold models flourished
1:38	by kings, toothpicks were correspondingly ubiquitous, and were even given as gifts.
1:45	Toothpicks were paired with tooth powders, which were rubbed over the teeth and gums with
1:50	an enthusiastic finger. Roman authors listed dozens of recipes. In addition to abrasive
1:58	agents like pumice, pulverized bone, powdered glass, and crushed shell, various concoctions
2:05	included such ingredients as sheep sweat and the ash of a wolf’s head. Some powders would
2:13	certainly have whitened smiles, though only those few that incorporated herbs and spices
2:18	beneficial for the teeth and gums would have made any positive contribution to dental health.
2:25	The Romans believed – or at least liked to claim – that certain Spanish tribes rinsed
2:31	their teeth with human urine (aged for the purpose in cisterns). Since all of
2:37	our references to this supposed practice are secondhand or satirical, however, it’s more
2:43	likely that we’re dealing with anti-barbarian prejudice than with any historical custom.
2:50	In light of the fact that we cannot conclusively discount the use of urine as a mouthwash, it is
2:56	perhaps unsurprising that bad breath was a chronic condition in the classical world, despite such
3:03	antidotes as honey-soaked wool, mouse ash, and unmixed wine. “Among all the animals,” one Roman
3:12	author observed, “man is most prone to bad breath, from bad food, from bad teeth, and especially from
3:20	old age.” Toothache seems to have been almost equally prevalent, not least because the remedies
3:26	prescribed by ancient authors – which included the burnt heads of mad dogs, grains of sand from
3:33	the horns of snails, and boiled frogs – would have done little more than distract sufferers.
3:40	Before we plunge into the agonies of ancient dentistry, a brief word about
3:45	this video’s sponsor. Established Titles sells certificates to small plots of land in Scotland,
3:52	which – in keeping with historic Scottish custom – enable recipients to call themselves Lord or Lady.
4:01	If you’re so inclined, you can even change your name officially in certain documents.
4:07	I can attest to this, since I have this certificate informing
4:11	all and sundry that I may style myself Lord Garrett Adrian Ryan.
4:18	Each title pack gives you at least one square foot of land on a private estate
4:23	in Eddleston, Scotland, along with an official certificate featuring a unique plot number.
4:31	The company sweetens the deal by planting a tree after every purchase and working with global
4:37	charities One Tree Planted and Trees for the Future to support global reforestation efforts.
4:45	As an additional perk, the first 200 people who purchase a title pack with my link will be
4:51	granted plots quite close to mine. Established Titles makes a great last-minute gift, so take
4:58	advantage of the Labor Day sale going on now, head to establishedtitles.com/toldinstone, and use the
5:06	code TOLDINSTONE for an additional 10% off. Returning to matters of the mouth.
5:14	Although doctors were already extracting teeth and wiring shattered jaws in Classical Greece,
5:20	most of our knowledge about ancient dentistry comes from Roman sources. Broken teeth were
5:27	filed down, infected gums were lanced; but in most cases, a dentist’s task was nothing
5:34	more or less than pulling teeth. Extractions were not undertaken lightly: medical handbooks
5:42	emphasized the risks of a careless operation, which ranged from a dislocated jaw to death.
5:50	Yet teeth were pulled, frequently enough that “tooth doctors” were a familiar presence in Roman
5:57	cities. The process differed from today’s primarily in the absence of anesthesia:
6:03	the gum was pulled back, the tooth was loosened by being worked back and forth, and the extraction
6:09	was performed with a stylus or forceps. A drain in the Roman Forum yielded 86 teeth – all with
6:18	deep cavities – which had apparently washed out from a dentist’s shop. Impressively, not a single
6:25	tooth had been broken during the procedure. With the possible exception of a Hellenistic
6:31	mummy found with a linen-packed tooth, there is no evidence for cavity fillings. Ancient dentists,
6:38	however, were perfectly capable of strengthening teeth with gold wire; an early Roman law
6:44	specifically exempted such fastenings from a general prohibition on burying gold with a body.
6:51	Though never common, artificial teeth – usually in the form of dental bridges – are well-attested.
6:58	By the Roman imperial era, dentures were made of everything from ivory to boxwood.
7:06	The effectiveness of ancient dental care can best be judged from the skeletons recovered at Pompeii
7:12	and Herculaneum. A cursory glance leaves a positive impression. Only about a third of
7:19	the adult skeletons found in the boat sheds at Herculaneum, for example, were missing teeth,
7:25	and relatively few had cavities. A closer look, however, reveals a more complex picture.
7:33	One middle-aged lady in the sheds, for example, boasted a perfect smile.
7:39	But a man of about the same age lying nearby had lost no fewer than seven teeth, and was suffering
7:46	from four serious cavities and four abscesses, one so deep that it drained into his sinuses.
7:54	Wealth seems to have been no guarantee of dental health. A young girl wearing expensive jewelry,
8:00	for example, already had five cavities – probably because her family could afford to
8:06	give her plenty of snacks smothered in expensive (and sugary) honey.
8:12	The leisure class was, however, spared the sort of wear visible in the mouth of a young fisherman,
8:18	whose teeth were badly worn on one side from biting nets on a daily basis.
8:26	Whether they were rich or poor, Romans ate a great deal of bread, typically made from flour
8:31	ground on basalt millstones. Flakes of stone from the milling process made their way into loaves
8:39	and cakes, wearing away at the upper surfaces of Roman teeth. The bases of those teeth, meanwhile,
8:46	were almost invariably caked with plaque, since toothpicks and tooth powders – though effective
8:53	at removing food scraps and burnishing smiles – were not very good at thorough cleaning.
9:00	Despite all these problems, the teeth of most Romans – and, for that matter,
9:06	of the Greeks and other ancient peoples – were better than one might expect, largely because,
9:11	in the absence of processed sugar, oral bacteria were less aggressive than they are today.
9:19	Cavities still occurred; but the pervasive blackened teeth and hollow cheeks of early
9:24	modern Europe were nearly as distant from the Roman experience as they are from ours.
9:31	If you enjoyed this video, please consider supporting toldinstone on Patreon. You might also
9:38	enjoy my book, Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants. Thanks for watching.