Yeah, it's always baffled me. Growing up I ate snacks and sugar fiendishly, but only ever had maybe one or two cavities in 2nd grade or so.

I had another friend who got cavities on an almost yearly basis. What was really fascinating was how boring her diet was; I never saw her eat anything more complex than a peanut butter sandwich or cheese pizza. She brushed, flossed and mouthwashed every day but could never get ahead of it. Meanwhile I went through all of middle and high school without any major dental work besides getting my wisdom teeth pulled.

It's all very odd, and my personal experiences have also led me to believe that diet plays a smaller role than we might think. I could be wrong though, I'm willing to defer to the most reasonable explanation.

Scientist lurkers in the thread take note. We have a couple for the first cohort for testing to see if their mouth biome differs from base population. Inquiring minds want to know!

Are you good about brushing your teeth and flossing on the regular? Having lots of sugar isn't what causes cavities, it's not keeping up your dental hygiene. So if you eat a lot of sugar but brush well on a regular basis, I would expect you to not get cavities.

Genetics play a role as well. My mom never got cavities despite never brushing her teeth, whereas my dad could brush pretty regularly and still have a cavity or two when he got checked up. Sadly I inherited my dad's genes, not my mom's.

I'd be willing to bet you drink a lot of water and also brush regularly. Am I right? Because that's what I do and I've 2 cavities in 40 years of life.

Yeah basically the same for me - I had a couple in my baby teeth, but I’ve never had a cavity as an adult.