As you all know teeth enhance the beauty of your face. But do you know that there are many different types of bacteria in your mouth that save your teeth from various oral diseases. Scientists have found that at present our oral health level is worse than it used to be of our ancestors, centuries ago. As per research published in Nature Genetics, this degradation in our oral health is due to the reduction in the diversity of bacteria in our mouth, making us more vulnerable to chronic and other oral diseases of various sorts.

The study of DNA of modern man and ancient man throws light on consequences of change in their diets that have occurred in these thousands of years. From time to time the reduction and changes were observed in oral bacteria with the change in our diets. The first record that researchers got of the impact of change in diet in so many years on the bacteria we carry with us was when man moved from being hunter gatherers to farmers and further when he started producing food during Industrial Revolution.
The man of modern era stays in the permanent state of oral diseases due to the use of sugar that has changed the composition of oral bacteria. To prove the fact scientists have examined the tartar deposits and the changes in the nature of the oral bacteria in 34 prehistoric human skeletons of different time span. In ancient teeth according to Professor Cooper the tartar deposits were dense masses of solid calcified bacteria and food.
Researchers found drastic change in man’s oral bacteria during Industrial Revolution when processed sugar and flour came into use.
There is also a positive side of this research that if the researchers get the real history of diseases man suffered, scientists can treat the diseases more effectively. Now scientists are exploring their search geographically and chronologically.
They researched on the ancient teeth bacteria of Neanderthals to see how they equal to the current findings. Until 2007 there was no proper cure to control the bacterial contamination. The cure became possible when Australian Centre for Ancient DNA’s (ACAD) super clean labs and decontamination and authentication protocols became available. The variation in bacteria is due to two changes in our diet:
- Our move of diet from the natural foods consumed by our ancestors to the farm raised food sources.
- The excess use of processed food in our diet for past several decades.
Time to move towards the natural foods again and keep your teeth healthy and shining!