Why do the skulls of mummies and ancient man seem to have straight teeth and modern man has crooked teeth?

When mummies or other remains of pre modern humans are shown on tv or displayed in museums how come they all seem to have straight teeth whereas most modern people seem to have crooked teeth? Are the teeth glued in straight in the remains?

Why do the skulls of mummies and ancient man seem to have straight teeth and modern man has crooked teeth?
Many of them don't actually have straight teeth - it may appear that way either because of the way the skull was reconstructed (if it needed heavy reconstruction) or the way it was filmed. It's also a little harder to notice for some people when looking at a skull as opposed to a living person. And the dessication of the body and loss of soft tissue tends to make teeth readjust ever so slightly. I've seen (and worked on) any number of skulls with pretty crooked teeth. If you look at, for example, the skull of Tutankhamun (which, admittedly, still has flesh attached) he had a pronounced overbite and slightly uneven teeth. The overbite is enhanced because of the dessication of his flesh during mummification, but it was still an overbite.


There has been a gradual evolutionary tendency towards a slightly smaller jaw and fewer teeth, but the size and number of teeth has not always kept up, thus producing some crowding in the jaw and crooked teeth.


Changes in diet and other issues have also played a slight role. Once people moved from eating primarily protein - meat, essentially, to corn or other carbohydrates the number of dental caries (cavities) tends to increase. Bread, depending on how flour was produced can also lead to wearing of the teeth - stone grinders for flour can leave small amounts of rough stone particles in the flour that will wear down the teeth over time. The same thing occurs with particularly tough food sources.


Use of bottles for feeding, thumb sucking, and similar things can change the shape of the palate in children, causing some tooth crowding or other effects.
Reply:Maybe they didn't have as much sugar at their disposal? Or then again, maybe you live in a hick-town like me? I look around lately, and all I see is foreheads and gums... kinda disheartening, isn't it?


...I don't think they had much glue in ancient times, actually.
Reply:As we get modern, we tame ourselves into these things.. We are not into eating so much raw veggies n fruits, and are too used to cooked foods made tender for our teeth to sink into.


Also, we live longer now a days, the ancient folks were glad if they saw the other side of 30s/ average life was around 25-28. So there would be lesser decays.
Reply:we eat to much



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