ANCIENT BELIEFS ABOUT WHAT CAUSES TOOTH DECAY There are several ancient theories about the cause of tooth decay. Queen Elizabeth I was known to have discolored teeth. Paul Henter, a German traveler, believed that her discoloration might have been caused from the excessive consumption of sugar. Before 1960, Americans believed that a tooth worm, which either had appeared spontaneously or had bored its way into the tooth, caused the stabbing pain of a toothache. If the tooth pain was severe, it meant that the worm was thrashing around. But if the aching stopped, then the worm was at rest. Cultures all over the world held on to the notion of the tooth worm, even though many of the cultures had no contact with each other. The folklore of the tooth worm persisted from ancient times to the beginning of the 18th century. It wasn’t until 1960 that Dr. Paul Keyes discovered that tooth decay was actually caused primarily by bacteria known as Streptococcus Mutans.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 12:57:07 +0000
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