Ice-Age Dentistry, Anyone?

In 2014, analyses of teeth from 52 adults discovered in a grotto in Morocco revealed that dental decay was already a fact of life 15,000 years ago, and did not arise with farming and processed food about 10,000 years ago, as previously believed. More than half of the individuals suffered from dental decay. The cause? Probably starchy pine nuts and sweet acorns, which were ground into flour and subsequently used to make a porridge or flat bread.

According to recent research, there were dentists in the ice-age... sort of. In April 2017, an international team of scientists reported to have discovered the world’s oldest dental fillings in 13,000-year-old teeth from Italy.