Can you imagine? Going to the dentist wayyyy back when cavemen existed…. Dentist tools were probably made out of animal bones, twigs, hairs, etc. When toothbrush, floss, toothpaste, health insurance, and sedation were nowhere to be found. We can definitely thank our ancestors for being creative and testing out new ideas so that we today, can have modern dentistry.

Scientists found 13000-year-old human teeth in a mountainous part of Tuscany, Italy—but someone had clearly been messing with these chompers. Through microscopy, it was clear they had been modified in some way, with chipping and residues of unnatural plant fibers and hairs on the inside of the teeth. They may have come from someone who’d visited the prehistoric dentist.

The teeth were canines and incisors, and the analysis consisted of an array of tools you’d probably prefer your dentist not use, like scanning electron microscopes, microCT scanners (which are basically lab versions of hospital CAT scanners) and other imaging techniques. The researchers radiocarbon dated the teeth, meaning they looked at the amounts of trace radioactive carbon to see how old they were. And using their microscopes, they identified the fibers inside the teeth as probably being put there while the caveperson was still alive.

 

Aren’t you glad that you don’t have a caveman dentist? Maybe now, you won’t think about skipping out on your appointment.

Read more at Gizmodo