Tooth Decay Causes and Symptoms

Advanced Tooth Decay Healing This diet is good for people trying to turn around severe tooth problems. Every item in this diet is designed to be the best of the best in terms of food nutrient density and in its ability to remineralize teeth extremely fast. This regime also aims to capture elements of a diet that may be close to optimal in maintaining health. Following these recommendations will make your teeth rock hard. Even if this diet is not right for you, or if it seems unbalanced, you can take aspects from this framework and add it to your personal tooth remineralizing diet. Please prepare the food or pick and choose items from this list so that you feel your efforts are life-affirming based upon your belief systems and personal goals. In this diet you want all your protein to be as fresh as possible. The highest quality proteins are seafoods and meats that have never been frozen. In fact, if it so fresh that it has never been refrigerated, then all the better. Daily Food Int...

The “One-Amazing-Meal-a-Day” Protocol This is a useful introductory protocol for people who want to make a good dent against tooth decay (pun intended), but who have difficulty instituting a complete dietary overhaul. How well your teeth remineralize is a factor of the mineral and fat-soluble vitamin density of your diet, along with the avoidance of foods that deplete your body of nutrients. This program is designed for someone who is very busy, does not like to prepare his own food, or in other situations when it is too difficult to have three or more solid meals per day. This program is not recommended for people who have severe cavities, tooth infections, or who are trying to heal highly sensitive teeth. This program will not be as effective as the balanced program discussed later on, but it will be effective for most people who want to prevent cavities, or heal small cavities naturally. This program is based on Weston Price’s one-good-meal-per-day diet for poor children that we d...

Tips for Going out to Eat Many of us go out to eat, especially those of you who are busy and will be following the one-amazing-meal-a-day plan. The minimal goal of restaurant eating is to enjoy nourishing and tasty foods that will not set you back in your tooth or gum healing process. The restaurants that are thoroughly engaged in whole-food, nutrient-dense cooking with high quality ingredients tend to be the most expensive. The style of their cuisine typically has at least some inspiration from traditional French cooking. These restaurants do not use excess grains to fill you up with low-cost calories, and you can expect local ingredients, grass-fed meats, and wild caught fish. Many of them understand the value of organ meats and serve sweetbreads, liver, oysters and clams. Expect to pay $20-30 or considerably more per adult. I recommend that you avoid pasta or grain-based dishes from these restaurants. If you are the type of person who can afford to dine this way regularly, why not...

Balanced Tooth Decay Remineralizing Program Food Intake Suggestions ½ teaspoon two or three times per day of Green Pasture’s™ Blue Ice™ Royal Blend 2-4 cups of raw, whole-fat dairy per day in the form of milk, kefir, whey, yogurt, clabber, or buttermilk. You can substitute about two ounces of cheese for every cup of fluid dairy. Also consider an eggnog smoothie as described in the next chapter. 2-4 ounces of raw cheese 1-2 cups of homemade gelatin-rich bone broth per day from any animal including beef, chicken, and fish. 6-18 ounces of high quality animal protein throughout the day and prepared for maximum digestion including stews, or raw, seared or marinated variations. Beef, chicken, pork, fish, lamb, eggs and so on. Have some protein with every meal. Divide your ideal weight by 15 for your minimum daily protein requirement in ounces. Plenty of cooked vegetables including but not limited to beet greens, kale, ch...

Remineralize Your Teeth with Diet In the previous chapter I presented detailed dietary instructions on what to eat and why in order to remineralize your carious teeth. We learned about Nature’s health principles by examining the diets of indigenous peoples across the globe. I will now compile several highly effective dietary programs based upon decades of research performed by some of the world’s best dentists including Weston Price and Melvin Page. I will also draw upon the lifetime of dental experience of dentist George Heard, and the decades of controlled feeding experiments by doctors Edward and May Mellanby. In addition these programs are brought together using volumes of research from dental and nutritional publications as well as from my personal experience of five years in helping people remineralize their teeth with diet. Each program presented here may have new tips, tricks and ideas for you to learn. You will also find meal ideas and recipes in the next chapter. Nothing ...

Nature’s Rules for Healing Teeth Let us review some key points of the book thus far to help you align with and understand the principles that govern the functions of your body and teeth: Tooth decay is caused by environmental forces such as food; you have complete control over your diet. “Dangerous” bacteria are not the cause of cavities and do not randomly attack innocent victims. Our modern diet is deficient in fat-soluble vitamins and minerals needed for healthy teeth and bones. Tooth decay occurs when your body chemistry falls out of balance and your body sends hormonal signals that tell your teeth to stop remineralizing. The imbalance is caused by blood sugar spikes and a disruption in your calcium and phosphorous metabolism. Eating plenty of vegetables, limiting your sugar intake, eating enough proteins and a diet that includes plenty of fat-soluble vitamins usually resolves this imbalance. Dentists are surgeons who trea...

Nutrition Protocols that Remineralize and Repair Cavities Hippocrates believed in vis medicatrix naturae – Nature’s innate ability to heal. Weston Price also acknowledged this same principle, concluding that “Life in all its fullness is this mother nature obeyed.” 1 All you need to do to heal cavities is understand Nature’s rules for health, and then follow them. When you follow these rules, the built-in ability for your teeth to heal will take over. Dr. Price’s tooth decay prevention protocol has shown a success rate of over 90%. 2 To heal your teeth, align yourself with this subtle natural force, and change how you eat.

Chapter 4 Part A References 1a Heard, George W. "Chapter 17." Man versus Toothache . Milwaukee: Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research, 1952. Print. 2a Ibid., Chapter 9. 3a Ibid., Chapter 28. 4a McAfee, Mark. "The Fifteen Things That Pasteurization Kills." Wise Traditions Summer (2010): 82. Print. 5a Ibid. 6a Huggins, Hal A.. It's All in Your Head: The Link Between Mercury Amalgams and Illness . 1 ed. New York: Avery Publishing, 1993. Print:155. 7a USDA food nutrient database accessed at www.nutritiondata.com 8a Page, Melvin E., and H. Leon Abrams. Your Body Is Your Best Doctor! New Canaan, CT: Keats Pub., 1972. 129. Print. 9a Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration 8th Edition . La Mesa: Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation; 2008:29. 10a Ibid., 113-114. 11a Page, Melvin E., and H. Leon. Abrams. Health vs Disease, a Revolution in Medical Thinking . St. Petersburg, FL: Page ...

Chapter 4 Part B References 1b Page, Melvin E., and H. Leon Abrams. Your Body Is Your Best Doctor! New Canaan, CT: Keats Pub., 1972. 184. Print. 2b Davidson, Lena. “Iron Bioavailablity from Weaning Foods: The Effect of Phytic Acid” Macronutrient Interactions: Impact on Child Health and Nutrition by US Agency for International Development Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. 1996:23. 3b Johnson DDS, Clarke. "Epidemiology of Dental Disease." University of Illinois at Chicago - UIC . N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2010 4b Mellanby, E. Relation of Diet to Health and Disease . The British Medical Journal 677, April 12, 1930. 5b Barnett Cohen and Lafayette B. Mendel. Experimental Scurvy of the Guinea Pig in Relation to The Diet, J. Biol. Chem . 1918 35: 425-453. 6b Ibid., 449. 7b Iron absorption in man: ascrobic acid and dose-depended inhibition. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition . Jan 1989. 49(1):140-144. 8b Me...

Chapter 4 Part C References 1c Ologhobo AD and Fetuga BL. Distribution of Phosphorus and Phytate in Some Nigerian Varieties of Legumes and some Effects of Processing . Journal of Food Science 1984 Volume 49. 2c Fallon, Sally, and Mary G. Enig. Nourishing Traditions: the Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats . Washington, DC: New Trends Pub., 2001. 468-69. Print. 3c Macfarlane, Bezwoda, Bothwell, Baynes, Bothwell, MacPhail, Lamparelli, Mayet. "inhibitory effect of nuts on iron absorption." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 47 (1988): 270-274. Print. 4c Ibid. 6c N. R. Reddy, Shridhar K. Sathe. Food Phytates . 1 ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2001. Print. 7c McGlone, John, and Wilson G. Pond. Pig Production: Biological Principles and Applications . 1 ed. Albany: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2002. Print. 8c Lonnerdal and Dewey. Micronutrient Interactions US Agency of Internatio...

Prescription Drugs, Recreational Drugs and Your Teeth Drugs, including over-the-counter medications usually alter your glandular system and will affect your calcium and phosphorous ratios. Prescription and recreational drugs, along with cigarettes, may alter your body’s ability to utilize nutrients from food. Many people in the western world have lost their ability to digest and utilize fat and protein due to damage caused by western drugs. Maverick physician Dr. Henry Bieler, author of the bestselling Food Is Your Best Medicine , wrote: As a practicing physician for over fifty years, I have reached three basic conclusions as to the cause and cure of disease. The first is that the primary cause of disease is not germs. The second conclusion is that in almost all cases the use of drugs in treating patients is harmful. Drugs often cause serious side effects, and sometimes even create new diseases. The dubious benefits they afford the patient are at best temporary. ...

Health Food Bars, Energy Bars and Tooth Decay Health food bars have made national news headlines for their ability to cause tooth decay. People who have never had a cavity in their adult teeth all of a sudden have several large ones. 23c I have talked with many people who developed large cavities rapidly, or who have chipped teeth as a result of health food bar consumption. The culprit here is not bacteria or the sticky gooeyness of the bars. The problem with the nutrition bars is the ingredients. Many health food bars have a rancid taste which is covered up by copious amounts of sugar. Health food bars typically contain multiple ingredients you will find on our “foods to avoid” lists. The combination of isolated protein fragments, high intensity sweeteners, and unprocessed whole grains chock full of phytic acid in health food bars creates a potent recipe for tooth bone loss, otherwise known as tooth decay. Addictive Substances Too much coffee consumption and not enough protein ...

Health Food Bars, Energy Bars and Tooth Decay Health food bars have made national news headlines for their ability to cause tooth decay. People who have never had a cavity in their adult teeth all of a sudden have several large ones. 23c I have talked with many people who developed large cavities rapidly, or who have chipped teeth as a result of health food bar consumption. The culprit here is not bacteria or the sticky gooeyness of the bars. The problem with the nutrition bars is the ingredients. Many health food bars have a rancid taste which is covered up by copious amounts of sugar. Health food bars typically contain multiple ingredients you will find on our “foods to avoid” lists. The combination of isolated protein fragments, high intensity sweeteners, and unprocessed whole grains chock full of phytic acid in health food bars creates a potent recipe for tooth bone loss, otherwise known as tooth decay. Addictive Substances Too much coffee consumption and not enough protein ...

Hidden Monosodium Glutamate Consuming unnatural forms of monosodium glutamate (MSG) may alter your endocrine gland balance. This can disrupt your body’s ability to regulate the homeostasis required to allow your parotid gland to send signals for your teeth to remineralize. Viewed from this perspective, MSG may be a contributing factor in tooth decay. Most store-bought soups, sauces and broth mixes contain MSG. MSG shows up secretly in product labels under different names. Avoid products containing the following ingredients: Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP), Textured Protein, Yeast Extract, Autolyzed Plant Protein, and anything with the word glutamate, or glutamic. Sweet Drinks Health food stores are loaded with sweetened and protein-fortified vegetable and fruit juices. Most of these products are pasteurized and therefore skeletonized foods. Avoid pasteurized vegetable and fruit juices. Sweet drinks from the store are loaded with sugar. They provide empty calories and are not a...

Organic Food Is Better Whenever possible, go for organic food. I am not talking about packaged food here. I am talking about wholesome unprocessed meat, fruit and vegetables. Published studies show that pesticides do show up in children’s bodies and bloodstreams soon after consuming pesticide-ridden conventional foods. 18c It is wrong that our culture allows poisons to be sprayed on our food. The good news is that you do not have to eat organic foods to be immune to tooth decay. That bad news is that pesticides put an unnecessary strain on the body and they may lead to other health problems. There is also a wide range of organically approved pesticides. While they are better than other pesticides, there are still many malignant substances sprayed on organic food. I recommend doing whatever you can to support small and local farms such as going to farmer’s markets, or shopping at stores that buy from local farms. This is not a requirement, but something feels good about buying food f...

Do Multi-Vitamins Fight Tooth Decay? Synthetic vitamins, and foods with synthetic vitamins added, offer little real benefit to your body. Synthetic vitamins are made with cheap substances and are not in a biochemical form that is easily absorbed by your body. As a result, most supplemental vitamins do little good and put quite a bit of internal stress on our organs. There is a reason why nature provides us with plant and animal food, and that we cannot live just by eating dirt or rocks. Our bodies view the synthetic vitamins as toxic substances that need to be rapidly eliminated. Hence the unusual odor or color of urine you may notice after consuming multi-vitamins. However when someone is very deficient in certain vitamins, even low quality vitamins can help. A stalk of celery or a serving of greens has more absorbable vitamins and minerals than a bottle of synthetic vitamin tablets. There are a handful of good vitamin supplements on the market. They will be made from whole foods....

Soy Products A friend of mine thought eating large portions of tofu was a good idea. In a short time her hair began falling out and her skin turned pale. Soy contains plant hormones that need to be disabled through a careful fermentation process, which tofu does not undergo. High levels of phytic acid in soy reduce the assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid in soy is not neutralized by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking, sprouting, and long, slow cooking. High phytate diets have caused growth problems in children. 12c Fermented soy products, such as special fermented soy drinks (not available in the store), natural soy sauce, miso and tempeh can be acceptable. However, use fermented soy with care and awareness. Fake Milks Soy milk contains enzyme inhibitors and excess estrogen. I have read of a fermented soy drink that can cure cancer, but this is not the same as the cheap, denatured, anti-nutrient-rich and overly processed soy products...

Nightshades Tomatoes, potatoes (but not sweet potatoes or yams), eggplant, goji berries, and peppers of every sort fall into the nightshade category. Nightshades contain calcitrol. The amount of calcitrol varies for each particular nightshade. Calcitrol is a hormone that signals our body to use calcium from our diet and it can easily lead to too much blood calcium, 13c thus calcitrol can imbalance our calcium to phosphorous blood ratio. This can easily lead to tooth decay. 14c Symptoms of too much blood calcium can include tooth decay on top of the teeth, or excess calculus deposits. Too much calcitrol from nightshades can also lead to calcium deposits in the body. This is one reason why nightshades have been connected with chronic pain or inflammation such as joint or back pain. The effects of nightshades may be canceled by other foods in your diet such as calcium, or vitamin D, but I am not certain. If you are struggling with tooth decay and cannot seem to stop it, then try taking...

Trace Minerals Repair Cavities The subject of trace minerals can get rather sticky since the utilization and balance of every mineral in our body is connected to all the other minerals in our body. I am not aware of any recognized minerals that are not important for our teeth. Minerals left out of the discussion here are still important. We have discussed the two essential minerals to remineralize teeth, calcium and phosphorus. Dentist and researcher Ralph Steinman recognized that magnesium, copper, iron, and manganese could all significantly influence tooth decay. Iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency in both less-developed as well as industrialized countries worldwide. 8c This deficiency is explained by the iron binding effects of phytic acid from grains and beans. Iron Content of Some Foods Food (100 gram servings, about 3.5 ounces) Iron in Milligrams In general mollusks and organ meats are high in iron. Certain herbs like nettles are said to be h...

Nuts and Nut Butters I read a comedic story of an indigenous group in the Amazon being introduced to peanut butter. They refused to eat it because it looked like human waste. Dogs are highly allergic to many types of nuts like walnuts and macadamia nuts. The symptoms that dogs suffer from nut poisoning include muscle tremors, seizures, vomiting, diarrhea, drooling, and elevated heart rate. As with grains, nuts are very high in plant toxins including phytic acid. The symptoms suffered by dogs that ingest nuts strongly suggest that nuts seem to have some substance, possibly lectins, which can affect the central nervous system. This nervous system effect is seen more clearly with dogs than with humans. Peanut allergies in humans can cause anaphylactic shock. This is just another potential sign of the potent plant toxins hidden in nuts. It is common for people with rampant tooth decay to rely on raw nut and seed butters as staples, including too much raw tahini. Nuts are powerful inhib...

Breakfast Cereals and Granola Breakfast cereals are manufactured at high temperatures. One study found that rats that ate only puffed wheat died before rats that were given no food at all. At least one breakfast cereal has killed lab rats faster than when the rats ate only the cardboard cereal box. 2c Many people unwisely continue to eat cold breakfast cereals because of the sugar-powered high it provides, and ignore the digestive distress that follows. Avoid the rancid and improperly prepared seeds, nuts and grains found in granolas, quick-rise breads and extruded breakfast cereals. Many people eat store-bought granola, which is almost always unhealthy because of its high sugar content and high level of phytic acid from oats. Breakfast cereals, even when labeled organic, are not healthy foods. They contain few nutrients that your body can absorb. The sugar and flour combination will cause a rapid rise in blood sugar and thus promote tooth decay. The cartoon character on the cerea...

Beans Beans are high in phytic acid and lectins. Lathyrism is a disease attributed to poor people who in difficult environmental circumstances planted and consumed the extremely hardy bean lathyrus sativus (a type of sweet pea). The toxic substance that caused lathyrism is likely the toxic amino acid beta-N-oxalylamino-L-alanine. Its symptoms include walking difficulties, leg weakness and eventually complete paralysis. Other beans also contain quite a few plant toxins such as soy beans. Lima beans consumed in Nigeria as a staple involve a “painstaking processes” to make them safe to eat. 1c To completely eliminate phytates, beans need to be soaked overnight in warm water, geminated for several days, and then soured. Most people will not be able to go through the lengths to remove all of the phytic acid in beans. Soaking beans overnight and then cooking them eliminates a good portion of phytic acid in smaller beans like lentils. Simply soaking beans overnight may be good enough for...

Eating Grains At Home Introductory Guidelines - If you are going to buy flour from the store, then I recommend buying partially refined flour such as unbleached, unenriched organic white flour. Do not use store-bought whole grain flour. Unbleached flour is low in phytic acid. Just keep in mind that for the long run, eating only unsoured unbleached flour is not an ideal health practice. Choose white basmati or white jasmine or sushi rice for your homemade rice dishes. Bleached Flour vs. Unbleached Flour Unless labeled as unbleached, white flour has been subjected to benzoyl peroxide or chlorine dioxide to make it appear bright white. Many commercial flours add potassium bromate and are also enriched. Choose unenriched organic unbleached white flour when possible. Flour can go rancid easily, so flour that is freshly ground will be healthier. Advanced Guidelines – The indigenous practice all over the world is for grains to be freshly ground before use. Many pe...

Are Grains the Hidden Reason for many Modern Diseases including Tooth Cavities? 9,000 years ago around 7,000 BC wheat and barley were first cultivated. Corn and rice followed 2,500 years later in 4,500 BC. According to human fossil records, prior to this time period, tooth decay was virtually unknown. Teeth recovered from Pakistan dating to around 5,500 BC show signs of being drilled, presumably because of cavities. For the last 5,000 years the average rate of tooth decay has been climbing. The rise in the rate of tooth decay has also been seen in Native Americans who switched from a hunter gatherer lifestyle to a more heavily corn-based diet. The cultivation of grains has fostered the evolution of civilization, allowing city centers to emerge in which large groups of people live together such as in ancient Egypt. Grains also made it possible to raise large armies as it resolved the logistical problem of feeding thousands of soldiers. In Weston Price’s field studies, a diet centere...