>Without good dental hygiene adults can expect to lose their teeth by age 40, at which point (in a foraging society with primitive tools) that adult is going to

>Without good dental hygiene adults can expect to lose their teeth by age 40, at which point (in a foraging society with primitive tools) that adult is going to be more than slightly malnutritioned. If you go camping, and forget your toothbrush/toothpaste, rub your finger on the blackened remains of last night's fire and rub it on your teeth, it does a more than adequate cleaning job, albeit without the nice minty flavor. I've started to notice "charcoal" as a highlighted additive in commercial toothpastes recently, although I suspect this little bit of folk wisdom predates recreational camping and the advertising industry by a considerable amount, and is pretty easy to "discover" again should the thread ever be broken. Also, a diet high in vegetable matter that requires heavy chewing and salivating is ime very good for overall dental health, as is chewing on anything not-sugary or otherwise damaging to your teeth, modern example: sugar free gum. Dental surgery is something I would not want to do in the premodern era, but if modern toothpastes etc were to disappear, I suspect we wouldn't miss them very much.