Two years ago I went to the dentist for a cleaning. I had one small cavity in between two of my upper teeth, and one large cavity way in the back next to my wisdom tooth. The dentist recommended that I stay and immediately have those two cavities filled. I told him I was going to go home and do some research first. I don’t think anyone has ever said that to him before, because he really looked speechless there for a second. I think Doctors are pretty used to getting their way (besides, he already thinks I’m weird because of a previous argument we got into about fluoride). Here is my research:
Contrary to popular belief, the teeth are not inanimate objects, but fully alive parts of the body. What makes up a tooth?
- Dentin: the bone-like layer in the middle of the tooth
- Enamel: the hard white surface that covers the tooth
- Pulp: with its many blood vessels, nerves and live cells
- Mandibular nerve: which carries blood to the nerves in the teeth
- Trigeminal nerve: feeds blood from the large cranial nerve to the Mandibular nerve
- Periodontal ligament: connects the tooth to the jaw through millions of fibers all going different directions
- Dentinal Tubules: EVERY TOOTH CONTAINS 3 MILES OF MICROSCOPIC TUBES, FILLED WITH A SUBSTANCE SIMILAR TO THE CEREBRAL SPINAL FLUID.
Dentin and enamel are fed from tooth building cells which transport or disperse nutrients through the dental lymph. They essentially act as tiny pumps. A healthy tooth will clean itself out, fluid will flow from within the pulp and move outward to protect our teeth from decay.
This Aborigine Tribe had beautiful teeth and wide arches. The pictures on the right page (top left, bottom left and bottom right) show the effects modern “white foods” had on this tribe.
The teeth’s ability to heal itself is based upon how healthy your salivary glands are. Poor diet causes food debris, saliva, chemicals and whatever may be in the body at the time to be pulled into the tooth through the dentinal tubules. Over time, the pulp becomes inflamed and tooth decay spreads to the enamel.
- Certain minerals play a key part in tooth health. Namely Magnesium, Copper, Iron, Phosphorus, Calcium and Manganese. Without abundant minerals in the diet the flow of fluid through the tubules is reversed, and cellular metabolism and energy-production of the teeth-building cells are damaged.
- Our hormone secreting glands also play a large part in the health of our teeth. When our endocrine glands are out of balance we develop tooth decay or gum disease.
- Blood sugar levels when chronically out of balance, can often cause tooth decay or gum disease.
- Vitamin A & D are crucial to the health of your teeth. Without enough Vitamin A & D our cells cannot produce enough osteocalcin-the protein that deposits calcium and phosphorous into our bones and teeth.
- Without enough fat-soluble vitamins in the diet severe tooth decay can result.
So what can you do?
Help your endocrine and pituitary glands stay in balance by eating a diet very low in sugar. This includes natural sugars.
Eat a diet low in phytic acid, which is an anti-nutrient found in grains, seeds, nuts and beans, and actually blocks the absorption of minerals by the body (I will do a full post on this tomorrow).
Eat more saturated fat! Cholesterol is a vital building block involved in hundreds of functions in the body. In fact, your body produces three to four times the amount of cholesterol that you eat. Cholesterol from healthy fats (coconut oil, tallow, lard, butter etc) is not dangerous and has no effect on your risk of heart disease.
Consume Vitamin A & D together. The most potent form is cod liver oil. You would have to eat 5 quarts of milk, 1 pound of butter or 9 eggs to consume the amount of Vitamin A found in one teaspoon of cod liver oil! (I order mine online at Iherb and use the coupon code HIF798 for a $10 discount and free shipping)
Increase the amount of fresh, raw foods that you consume and reduce the amount of cooked, processed, prepackaged foods.
Eat something other than grass? Why would I want to do that? This grass is delicious!
The Changes I Made
I take 2 capsules of Blue Ice Fermented Cod Liver Oil/Butter Oil Blend 3 TIMES A DAY.
I drink 2-3 cups of raw, grass-fed whole-fat milk per day minimum. We also eat full-fat dairy made from this milk.
I make homemade bone broth often, and we use it for cooking daily.
We eat wild-caught seafood 1-2 times per week ( I find fish eggs are a really easy way to do this) Rob loves all sea food, and probably eats more than I do. We eat oysters, clams, crab, lobster, caviar etc.
We eat high quality beef, pork, chicken from a local farm who only feeds the animals what God would feed them.
We eat the organ meats from those animals at least 1 time per week
I eliminated sugar from my diet completely and only allow myself 1 Tbsp per day maximum. Which sounds hard, but once you haven’t had sugar for a while, 1 Tbsp is actually a lot of sweetener. (and fruit tastes like candy)
I increased the amount of green leafy vegetables in my diet, and always consume them with a healthy fat, so I can absorb the minerals efficiently. Juicing is an excellent way to do this, if you aren’t a big veggie fan.
I started soaking grains to reduce the amount of phytic acids I was consuming. I will post on this method tomorrow. I also greatly reduced the amount of grains that we were eating, and started buying sprouted flour.
Have you had your colorful foods today?
Because your teeth are alive, they CAN heal themselves!
I didn’t believe this until I went back to the dentist 6 months later and the small cavity on the top was so much smaller in the X-ray that the Doctor could barely find it. In my mind I screamed “I knew it would work, I knew it!”. But out loud I just said “hhmmm. It looks like the changes I made worked.” He asked me a lot of questions, and I answered them all. We talked for over an hour about the changes I made, and the research behind why they worked. This man with a doctorate in dentistry literally said to me “I have been a dentist for 21 years and I had no idea a tooth could remineralize itself. I didn’t know it was even possible”.
Now it has been 2 years, and both of my cavities are 100% gone. I also had teeth that were very sensitive to cold, and that has gone away entirely. I can now chew ice cubes (I know everyone with sensitive teeth out there is cringing right now) and rinse my mouth with ice water and I feel no pain.
Tooth decay is caused by an imbalance in body chemistry. Blood sugar spikes cause our hormones to tell the teeth to stop adding minerals, and our metabolism of calcium and phosphorous is disrupted. Eat plenty of vegetables, stop eating so much sugar and carbohydrates, eat more grass-fed protein and fat and you can resolve this imbalance.
I would recommend the same research to you, that I did to the good Doctor:
Cure Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price READ ONLINE HERE
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Know Your Fats by Mary Enig
Find real food here: www.eatwild.com and www.localharvest.org and www.greenpasture.org
Green Pastures produces the highest quality cod liver oil. They use cold fermentation to extract the oil, instead of the more common distillation and heat. I wouldn’t recommend any other brand.
Whole Grains: Not as Healthy as We Think?
Your Journey to Health
Magnesium Deficiency and What to do about it
Characteristics of Traditional Diets
Organ Meat Recipes
How We Afford to Eat High Quality Food
Real Food For Babies