Ever get tired of brushing and flossing every day? Count your blessings: you could be facing a stack of pointed sticks each morning.

A pair of Neanderthal molars around 63,400 years old recently unearthed in Madrid show evidence that even our prehistoric ancestors understood the importance of oral hygiene. Small grooves etched onto both teeth confirmed paleontologists’ theory that Neanderthals used small, pointed sticks to remove debris stuck in their mouths—tools not too dissimilar from today’s wooden toothpicks.

However, in some ways maintaining oral health is a steeper battle today: our Neanderthal forebears did not suffer from tooth decay as we know it, due to the fact that their diets did not include the refined sugars and starches that make up a large part of many people’s regular fare today.

So in the end there’s really no way around it: if you want to enjoy your favorite sugary treats, you’d better remember to brush and floss at the end of the day if you don’t want to end up with worse-than-prehistoric teeth. And when you do, just be glad you don’t have to go outside and clip off a piece of tree limb beforehand.