Get the latest tech news
The Rise and Impending Fall of the Dental Cavity
Another of history's great killers is on the chopping block
This pattern has been attributed to changes in diet and the consequent increase in consumption of carbohydrates in human populations after the development of starchy crops, leading to the establishment of infectious agents causing dental caries. Analysis utilising some epidemiological disciplines has demonstrated that to treat dental caries by traditional amalgam restorative dentistry in the permanent dentition of the child population [(most of which reside in the developing world)] would… [require] financial resources beyond the capabilities of low-income nations. On the more statistical side of things, the Health Examination Survey in 1960-62 looked at the prevalence of tooth loss among U.S. adults aged 18-79 and it produced a shocking estimate about the extent of dental decay in the American population.
Or read this on Hacker News
