Color me unsurprised by recent revelations from a team of archaeologists who found Vikings who lived between the 10th and 12th centuries. It turns out they had some pretty severe health issues, along with some nasty dental problems. Shocked, shocked I tell you, that modern medicine and dental practices are good, actually, and that old ones either sucked or were nonexistent.The discovery started with an archaeological excavation of over 300 Vikings in Varnhem, Sweden, back in 2005. A team of archaeologists from the University of Gothenburg examined some of those skulls using modern technology like X-rays and CT scans.Seeing as the world back in the 10th to 12th centuries lacked dental offices that played smooth jazz as you got your teeth drilled, it should be of no surprise to anyone that 12 of the skulls contained evidence of bacterial infections at the root of the teeth. Another 10 showed clear signs of periodontal disease typified by bone loss and tooth defects. Vikings Had Some Wildly Painful Dental IssuesA lot of the skulls had malformed jaw bones, meaning a lot of these people had their jaws fractured at some point and they were improperly healed. One of the skulls showed signs of hardened tissue near the temporal bone, the part of your skull right behind your ears.That means that this particular Viking probably had an ear infection that started to spread after having gone untreated. This Viking was probably in immense pain all the time, as all of the ones mentioned in this paragraph likely were, and probably several others.It should also be of no surprise that a Viking at around this time would be extraordinarily lucky to live until they were anywhere in the 35 to 40-year-old range. To put that into modern perspective, LeBron James is 40 years old and is still one of the best players in the NBA. He is not on his deathbed, as the average Viking would be right about now.The funniest thing about all the research the archaeologists dug up is that for all of the horrendous, wildly painful tooth and skull maladies these long-dead Vikings had suffered through, only six of the Vikings were missing teeth by the time they died. Yes, these Vikings were probably driven mad by dental agony, but it was all probably hidden behind a nice smile.The post Turns Out Vikings Had Really Bad Teeth appeared first on VICE.