Is Your Lifestyle Fueling Poor Dental Health?
Dr. Weston Price’s indisputable discovery clearly points to high quality nutrition passed down generationally as being a key reason for our poor dental health. This post from Holistic Health Mastery sheds light on the role minerals play in integral teeth health and how to care for your teeth.
The health of our teeth indicates and translates to us the health of our body. The teeth are constantly being rebuilt and replaced, much like the bones. The teeth are actually living bones feeding off the same mineral compositions for structural integrity. Our teeth are coated with hard enamel, which is the most mineralized shield protecting the dentin crown and the pulp, which contains our nerves and blood vessels. The information being delivered to the sensitive nerve fibers in the teeth from our food is giving us a specific education that is either increasing our health or decreasing it. The best foods for our teeth are organic leafy vegetables, wild grasses, sea weeds, seeded low-sugar fruits, nuts, seeds, green powdered super foods, probiotic rich fermented foods, and grass pastured raw butter and clarified ghee. Cooked food, when unbalanced, weakens mineral absorption while numbing the enzyme activity found in our saliva. Salivary enzymes are rapidly increased in the presence of cooked and processed foods exhausting endogenous(self-producing) enzyme production over time.
Before a child has matured to the point of full puberty they will generally have 8 incisors, 4 canines, and 8 molars. The average fully constructed adult will have 8 incisors, 4 canines, 12 molars(including wisdom teeth), and 8 premolars. Wisdom tooth extraction is one of the most common practices in dentistry and for the most part unquestioned. According to conventional logic our jaw bone structure is not large enough to house our adult teeth once the wisdom molars begin emerging. According to dental consultant Jay Friedman more than two-thirds of all wisdom tooth extractions are medically unnecessary. He also states that “It (dental industry) is driven by misinformation and myths that have been exposed before but that continue to be promulgated by the profession”.
Dr. Weston Price’s Indisputable Discovery on Teeth Health
Dr. Weston Price in his travels and research with aboriginal cultures documented the wide smiles and practically perfect teeth arrangements. These people never wore braces, never had a root canal, never had wisdom tooth extractions, most never used a tooth brush, and only 1% of Dr. Price’s findings had any form of cavitation. Dr. Price and his wife even documented these findings with photographs taken on site accounting to 18,000 photos. This legendary discovery in holistic dentistry found that indigenous populations intact had an enlarged jaw structure compared to modernized and domesticated peoples. In Dr. Price’s book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration he clearly points out the sole glitch in our acceleratingly poor teeth health which is high quality nutrition passed down generationally. We do not begin to see the rapid increase in dental problems until 250-300 years ago during the advent of the industrial era. We even see a much slower decline in dental records thousands of years ago during the progression of the agricultural shift from nomadic hunter gatherers and foragers to farmers and city builders.
Minerals for Integral Teeth Health
The minerals that build strong teeth are magnesium, calcium, silicon, phosphorus, sulphur, boron, and manganese. Our mouth is fully equipped to repair tooth enamel damage from time to time, but through the extended process of being on an acid forming diet, it gets overwhelmed to the point where we will experience demineralization. The acidic compounds found in soda, candy, hybridized fruit, tap water, commercial meat & dairy products, artificial foods, and starchy carbohydrates can cause our bones to leach minerals out of the bone-skeletal structure. This is a self preservation strategy the body performs when the blood chemistry thickens(coagulates) and is burdened by too much acidity. The blood must have enough alkaline elements such as calcium to buffer the acids and maintain a slightly alkaline environment. The body will strip alkaline minerals from spaces of the body that are of lesser priority for survival to patch up the holes in the ship. As the life cycle continues and eating habits remain the same those holes become bigger and eventually the entire ship falls apart.
Vitamin D is very important for the combination of calcium and phosphorus in building strong teeth. Vitamin D is a hormone that supports vigorous health, cell to cell communication, and mineral absorption. The average person has an excess of phosphorus in their diet in combination with inorganic calcium. Phosphorus is used by the body to help filter out the kidneys while assisting in muscle, tissue, and cellular repair. Approximately 85% of the phosphorus in the body is dedicated to our bones and teeth. Phosphorus is an acidic mineral in nature, and must be balanced by good forms of calcium coming from rich organic leafy vegetables, root vegetables, sea vegetables, and super foods. Otherwise, it can lead to tooth and kidney weaknesses. A diet high in cooked and processed foods, animal flesh, eggs, conventional dairy, rice, grains, most nuts, seeds, and potatoes contribute to an excessive amount of phosphorus, which must be balanced out with green juices, sprouts, super foods, and organic salads.
Raw foodist’s can experience teeth problems when focusing too much on certain food groups such as simple sugars coming from conventionally grown fruits, dried fruits, and nuts without buffering the acids with highly mineralized alkaline foods. It is often assumed that fruit is alkaline in nature therefore one can consume as much fruit as they wish. Many fruits contain slightly more acid based minerals such as phosphorus than do alkaline minerals such as calcium. Citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes, grape fruit, etc. contain citric acid which over time of excessive usage can damage the enamel. This can be counter balanced by brushing with essential oils, neem, and using antimicrobial agents such as colloidal silver or angstrom zinc.
Tooth Decay & Oral Infections
Human saliva is 98% water and contains electrolytes, mucous, salivary enzymes, and antibacterial compounds. Saliva is delivered into the mouth by three salivary ducts; the parotid gland, submandibular gland, and the sublingual gland. Two chief functions of saliva is to create digestive enzymes such as amylase (carbohydrate splitting enzyme) and neutralizing anaerobic organisms (bacteria, viruses, etc.). Whenever sugar or starches enter the mouth, the saliva acts to neutralize the bacteria (streptococcus mutants) that feed on sugar as their fuel supply. Whether one can consume a higher percentage of semi-very sweet fruits and have excellent teeth health is dependent on the presence of streptococcus mutan bacteria in the oral cavity. These organisms break down sugars for respiration the same as a cancer cell does and it’s metabolic byproducts create an acidic environment in the mouth. This compounded acidity demineralizes the living bones (teeth) and creates tooth decay. If someone has tooth decay or an oral bacterial infection it is recommended to lay off sweet fruits in the beginning and focus on sterilizing the infection using natural antibiotic agents (silver, h202, angstrom zinc, iodine, olive leaf extract, etc.) and remineralizing the tooth using high silica herbs and supplements (horsetail, nettles, oat straw, bamboo leaf, organo living silica). The theobromine in cacao has also been identified as a potent antimicrobial agent that works especially well against streptococcus mutan organisms and protects the integrity of the teeth. Chewing on 10-15 raw cacao beans a day is recommended for a supplemental dose of magnesium, iron, manganese, chromium, and theobromine.
Dr. Brian Clement of the Hippocrates Health Institute has stated that the biggest culprit for minerals leaching on a raw food diet is not just the sugar in the fruit but the acidity that eating unripened fruit inflicts on the body. Fruit coming from the super market is 100% unripened. In a natural setting fruit only ripens when it falls on it’s own accord to the ground, if it is picked prematurely it is not fully matured and therefore is missing vital elements. Fresh water-soluble fruits with seeds are fantastic for hydration and vitamins, which is important to keep the saliva in our mouth pristine. If you are in the position to do so it would be a great advantage to grow your own fruit trees and let them fully mature before eating them.
The best way to clean the teeth regularly is through eating vegetables, such as celery, which can act as a natural tooth brush. The fibers in celery can seep into the gaps of our teeth, helping to loosen up food particles. Celery is also a good sodium balancer in the mouth because if one eats too much raw foods too fast, they can be hit with potassium burns, this is when our mouth starts getting irritated and burns slightly from too much potassium that is found in fruits and vegetables. Foods high in silica, such as radishes, bell peppers, oats, okra, fresh lettuce, nettles, and horsetail, have a powerful effect on the healing of bones. It is recommended by many long-term raw foodists to chew on leaves and fresh grasses. Observing animals in their natural habitat is an interesting experience. I notice my dogs chewing grass all the time, and they are said to have much cleaner mouths than humans do!
How to Care for Your Teeth
◆ Daily flossing is important for maintaining dental hygiene. Animals have no need to floss because there teeth are crowded together like modern humans. Our aboriginal ancestors also had more gaps between their teeth and did not require flossing as we do now. Many infections propagate in the mouth due to fermentation of food particles wedged in-between the teeth. Coating the floss in neem oil is a great way to include anti-microbial agents for optimal hygiene.
◆ Softly brush your teeth daily with a non-fluoride non-chemical laden tooth paste. I recommend making your own tooth paste using essential oils and a non-abrasive negatively charged chelating material such as zeolite powder as the base. If someone has had their mercury fillings removed there may still be off-gassed residue left over and zeolites can help bind it up and extract it from the oral environment. You can use activated coconut charcoal bi-daily to help whiten the teeth and extract toxic residue in the mouth through it’s “adsorptive” qualities. Baking soda is also an effective tool for whitening stained teeth.
◆ Eating organic green vegetables and chewing on leaves is important for alkalizing the mouth and remineralizing the teeth. The chewing action of raw plant foods help to stimulate digestive enzymes, increases serotonin production, and strengthens the jaw muscles whereas cooked food requires little chewing and weakens the jaw muscles over time from inactivity. Chewing on green vegetables high in magnesium, calcium, silica, and manganese are especially important. Having a balanced diversity of nuts and seeds in the diet is important for bone mineralization, especially phosphorus.
◆ Incorporating grass pastured raw butter or high “activator x” ghee butter (my favorite). Dr. Weston Price uncovered a secret nutrient he called activator x was highly present in the butter of grass fed cows during the highest growth cycle of grass growing on nutrient rich top soil. It is now understood this nutrient is a fat soluble vitamin called vitamin K2. This nutrient helps to guide calcium ions into the bone structure as well as helps to remove excess calcium deposits in the soft tissues including the arteries, heart, and kidneys. If someone does not want to consume high quality butter to get their vitamin k2 they can take MK-7 vitamin K supplements that are derived from natto.
◆ Chewing on fresh high grade colostrum powder is a great way to create a protective shield against invasive pathogens and empower immunological momentum via the salivary transport system. Colostrum contains specific growth factor proteins that are transferable to the human immune system. When you let the powder sit in the mouth while slowly chewing it these proteins are released into the saliva. Some studies indicate that bovine powdered colostrum can neutralize cavity causing bacteria (streptococcus mutants) by creating specific anti-bodies that render them inactive.
Source: Eating for Teeth Health
