2 ms·

I actually had a dentist tell me this recently after a clean. That the only "good" thing about calcified tartar is that is does form a barrier. But that we sho

I actually had a dentist tell me this recently after a clean. That the only "good" thing about calcified tartar is that is does form a barrier. But that we should prevent it accumulating in the first place and causing tooth damage.

culi 4y ago
This sounds similar to how not all biofilms are cariogenic and can actually play a lot of beneficial roles. We have a lot of evidence[0] that in the past we had a much more commensal microbiome but the shift to a more cariogenic one was actually rather recent. I feel like it's very likely that our oral microbiomes simply haven't had enough time to adapt to the massive shift in modern lifestyles and diet but used to play a mostly beneficial role in our health, much like our gut microbiome did. I mean just look at Google Pics of the teeth of wild monkeys and apes. Pearly whites! No dentist needed [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3996550/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3996550/