3 ms·

> Good diet (no sugars) and avoidance of broad-spectrum bactericides will allow good bacteria to thrive, pushing out the bad smelly ones. Good luck with that!

> Good diet (no sugars) and avoidance of broad-spectrum bactericides will allow good bacteria to thrive, pushing out the bad smelly ones. Good luck with that! What are you going to eat? Can't have fruits, most modern fruits are very high in fructose. Definitely nothing containing starch, which will immediately break down in your mouth. Meat? It has some sugar too (largely responsible for the barbecue taste). Its not wise to assume that mechanical (and perhaps even chemical) teeth cleaning wasn't practiced by our ancestors every since they evolved hands. Sure, reducing sugars goes a long way in keeping your mouth healthy. But we can't rely solely on that. Bacteria (even good ones) will ultimately form biofilms that need to be disrupted, otherwise they calcify and become tartar, then start accumulating down the gums, until they are mostly shielded from the air and the 'bad' anaerobic bacteria proliferate. You then get periodontitis and eventually start losing bone and then teeth (something accepted by society as a consequence of growing old, when it's in fact a disease).

justinpowers 5y ago
No sugars might have been better said as “less sugars” for the pedantic amongst us. Never said there was no mechanical cleaning. But they certainly didn’t have our “advanced” toothbrushes, toothpastes and mouthwashes. In fact, I’d say “mechanical washing” was an unavoidable aspect of eating harder foods rather than the soft, sticky processed items we tend towards today. And furthermore, with less stickiness (gluten and sugars) they would have needed less mechanical washing. Anyways, lifestyle changes don’t need to be all or nothing to have a measurable effect And yes even good bacteria can/will be bad at some point. Nonetheless they are still better than most others and will help maintain homeostasis for as long as time allows. We haven’t yet found a cure for time-related degeneration/accumulation, have we? But again, maybe I should have said “better bacteria” rather than “good”

justinpowers 5y ago

No sugars might have been better said as “less sugars” for the pedantic amongst us. Never said there was no mechanical cleaning. But they certainly didn’t have our “advanced” toothbrushes, toothpastes and mouthwashes. In fact, I’d say “mechanical washing” was an unavoidable aspect of eating harder foods rather than the soft, sticky processed items we tend towards today. And furthermore, with less stickiness (gluten and sugars) they would have needed less mechanical washing. Anyways, lifestyle changes don’t need to be all or nothing to have a measurable effect And yes even good bacteria can/will be bad at some point. Nonetheless they are still better than most others and will help maintain homeostasis for as long as time allows. We haven’t yet found a cure for time-related degeneration/accumulation, have we? But again, maybe I should have said “better bacteria” rather than “good”