Tiny Worm Teeth: When Early America Believed Cavities Were Living Creatures

Tiny Worm Teeth: When America Believed Cavities Were Alive
Long before electricity lit homes or science explained disease, early Americans inherited an old belief that tooth pain came from tiny worms living inside the teeth. This idea, carried across oceans from Europe and the ancient world, shaped how people in the United States understood dental suffering for generations.
In colonial towns and frontier settlements, a throbbing tooth was not just decay—it was invasion.















