Dr. Laura Weyrich

I think the teeth tell a very similar story as well.

You know, I think a lot of our visions of ancient teeth are of everybody having cavities in every tooth, right?

And having, you know, gangly, horrible teeth.

And Neanderthals actually have beautiful teeth.

Like I wish I had teeth as good as a Neanderthal for the most part.

They have amazing oral health.

And, you know, it tells you something about about the health of their diet.

Right.

And they're foraging and what they're going through and what they're what they're eating.

That's amazing.

Yeah, exactly.

They they can be totally.

But when you have great oral health, you know, there's something that really help you and benefit you.

They're tools.

They care around with your body.

Our work really shows that Neanderthals had very different types of microorganisms in their mouths.

And so they weren't probably able to get tooth decay and able to get gum disease in the same way that modern humans are.

And they also have really great, you know, sort of healthy diets, right?

Probably lots more leafy greens and protein than what the average person's eating today.

Yeah, there was a really exciting new paper that showed that maybe Neanderthals were actually taking care of their teeth in ways dentists still do today.