They sucked areca nuts — the same seeds that roughly 600 to 700 million people use today in processed form across much of Asia and the Pacific.

The habit wore into their teeth.

The wear exposed the nerve.

The pain drove continued use.

The arecoline provided temporary relief from the pain it had caused.

This is the oldest known cycle of human substance use and its physical consequences.

It is not a glamorous story.

It is a human story: a person dealing with pain, seeking relief, finding a substance that helped and hurt at once, and continuing to use it because the short-term help outweighed the long-term hurt in the moment of each decision.