You can't say that about the ancient Egyptians (and actually very few of the hunter/gatherer cultures, but we're talking Egypt, here). It was a life that was different from what we're used to, but it certainly wasn't all misery and drudgery, not with the amount of time off they took for celebrations/rituals (and generally, speaking, they actually worked far less hours overall than a modern, cubical dwelling man). You had tradesmen, farmers, priests and laborers like any other society. Archeological reconstructions supports that for the most part, ancient Egypt was an extremely successful culture, with extensive trade routes and a very well managed and fruitful agricultural system that supported plentiful food storage (one of the reasons cats were so revered in their culture was actually for the animals ability to keep vermin out of the grain houses).
Think about it, it stands to reason that only a land and culture that is rich could support the extensive public works that were constantly being done. You need more than just subsistence rations if you're going to be building big ass tombs and then you have to have a crapload of stuff left over to be able to BURY tons of valuable shit in tombs.
Now tooth issues were HUGE in the desert, and dental infections a very real cause of early death in all ancient cultures (not due to cavities, though, which are a disease of modern man), but mainly due to issues that stemmed from erosion. As anyone who has ever gone to the beach knows, it's damned near impossible to keep sand out of everything. Sand got into the grain and caused a dramatically increased rate of tooth wear.
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