Comment on I don't envy the humans pre-dentistry
ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 10 months agoAre you sure about that? We lost so many teeth after the industrialisation of sugar production (machines and slavery) but I’m not sure how bad it was before then.
shortypig@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
And our teeth really went downhill after we started reproducing without the quality check provided by survival of the fittest. The remains of hunter gatherers generally have very nice teeth.
deranger@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
I don’t follow the logic. Human teeth would be better if more children died? That “quality check” only applies if an organism dies before mating, which happens usually around teenage years for humans.
ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Nah.
There seems to be a genetic variation that eliminates some or all wisdom teeth. It arose in Asia so long ago that the people who populated North and South America also had it. And in most populations it is still not very prevalent (less than 50%). Despite having been around for ages.
deo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
My mom only had the lower two wisdom teeth, none on top.