Can you cure tooth decay naturally?

Most of us have experienced some tooth decay in our life, and taking a trip to the dentist where they drill out the decay, fill it back up. And on your way.

I invite you to consider this information as I personally know people that have followed this protocol with their kids with great results. If you do have some worrying decay for you or your child, then please do work alongside a holistic dentist that understands these principles, and then together you can track any changes and ensure the decay is subsiding or if other steps need to be taken.

How modern foods affect oral health

In 1915 there was a dentist name Weston A. Price who was appointed to be the first research director of the American Dental Association.

His research let him to various groups of people across the world (e.g. Swiss Also, Aborigines of Australia, Gaelics etc.) that were not yet influenced by the modern Western food changes (white flour, sugars -  processed foods).

There he documented the correlation between the absence of tooth decay and other modern lifestyle diseases when they were consuming their traditional diets which were typically very high in fat-soluble vitamins and minerals. Things that are very much lacking in most of our modern diets today, and he said it was a clear sign that most dental decay is not a “genetic” condition.

Image to the right:

The top right is a picture of a primitive Aborginal woman, and the other 3 are women who were placed in reservations and fed commercialised Western food where their tooth decay had become rampant.

Also notice the shape of their faces, those unaffected also have a much wider and rounded facial structure, in comparison to the more narrow jawlines and typically also have crowded teeth.

Why does food affect oral health?

Food directly impacts your hormones in your body (as does what you put ON your body as I talk about extensively on my Healthy Body part of my website). So a key part of this protocol is looking at the food choices we make.

Now did you know that hormones and glands also play a role in decay and gum disease? Some experts saying that it doesn’t have anything to do with what food is stuck on your teeth! Understand that this was based on their research of primitive tribes eating their traditional, non-processed diet, but it’s an interesting concept to ponder on seeing that in our current society we’ll happily binge on junk food as long as we brush our teeth before bed…

Cholesterol is also a vital building block for hormones, alongside of vitamin D (which is often referred to as a hormone and is fat-soluble).

What causes poor oral health?

This is a list from one of the additional resources below, to provide a very brief overall summary of the reasoning behind this particular protocol and point of view:

• Dangerous bacteria is not the cause of cavities

• Our modern diet is deficient in fat-soluble vitamins and minerals needed for healthy teeth and bones

• Tooth decay happens when your body chemistry falls out of balance so your teeth stop remineralising

• The imbalance is caused by blood sugar spikes (e.g. modern processed foods) which disrupt your mineral metabolism/absorption

• Dentists generally treat the symptoms of dental disease, and treatments usually only have short-term results as remineralising of the cavities is not typically part of the treatment.

General recommendations

Here are some very high level recommendations for this protocol, again for more detailed information about why please see below for the additional resources:

Include:

• Vitamin D

• Vitamin A and cod liver oil

• Bone marrow, bone broth and other organ meats

• Organic vegetables

• Good quality meats and seafood

• Eggs

• Healthy fats (butter, organic/wild meats/seafood, coconut oil, olive oil)

• Fermented foods

• Dairy (organic, raw, whole fat only)

Exclude:

• Refined sweeteners (high fructose corn syrup etc)

• Processed foods

• * Processed grains (phytic acid inhibits mineral/iron absorption, lectins affect digestion and interferes with hormones)

• ** Oats (large amounts can cause scurvy as interferes with vitamin C absorption, modern oats are heat treated so briefly soaking/sprouting doesn’t remove the phytic acid)

• Industrial seed oils (trans fats: Canola (from rapeseed), cottonseed, safflower, soy, corn - all labelled as “vegetable oils”)

• MSG (Monosodium Glutamate/hydrolized vegetable protein- alters your endocrine gland balance)

• Soft drinks

* If grains are consumed ensure they are soaked/sprouted/fermented to minimise the effects on phytic acid and lectins within them.

** If oats are consumed ensure they are soaked and sprouted for 2 days, dry them, remove the bran, fermented them for 24 hours before consuming and ensure a large amount of fat-soluble foods are present.

I always try and look at the holistic view, so know that by removing modern foods will not only affect your oral health, but your overall too as most modern dis-eases are caused by some form of inflammation.

If you’d like some support in incorporating these kinds of nutritional changes into your lifestyle then please book a free 15 minute discovery session with me and see how I could best support you.

Additional resources

Here are a few resources if you wish to explore this topic further:

• Cure Tooth Decay - Ramiel Nagel

• Nutritional and Physical Degeneration - Dr. Weston A. Price

• Nourishing Traditions - Sally Fallon (https://nourishingtraditions.com)

• Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS diet) - Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride