Thursday 15 February 2018

the tooth healing diet



There is a facebook group I belong to which is a support group for the book "Cure Tooth Decay" by Ramiel Nigel.
I have had significant decay from a young age so I don't think there is a great possibility of healing my teeth but I joined the group because it interested me.
I had one interaction in the group which has stayed with me: a person posted about nerve pain surrounding a tooth and I responded that once there is nerve pain the tooth is dying and there is no hope for it. I was quickly contradicted with the idea that maybe nerve pain doesn't guarantee the death of the tooth but is a last ditch cry for help. I hadn't thought of it that way before but I realised the idea had some merit and I tucked it away for future reference.
In January I had a very deep filling in a tooth that won't be repairable next time and the soreness I had after the filling was concerning. The dentist expected me to get a few more years out of this tooth but I felt that the trauma of the filling might have been all too much. 
The Cure Tooth Decay protocols include diet and supplementation and can be very expensive. With very little faith that it could help me I didn't want to throw my life savings at supplements but I decided I would do what I could to give that tooth a chance at surviving a bit longer. The group recommended homeopathic remedy hypericum for nerve support and while I have never used homeopathy I did have hypericum in another guise: There was a bottle of St John's Wort in the cupboard, a left over from my days in herbal medicine. It wouldn't cost anything to take some St John's and eat a bit differently so I decided to focus on the things I could do easily and see what happened. 
I  completely cut out sugar and grains, limited coffee to one a day or even  none if I was doing well, ate sardines, liverwurst, butter and cheese at every opportunity and of course downed a spoon of herbal tincture three times a day.
I stuck rigidly to that routine for 17 days and then I got distracted by a chocolate or some such thing, then I had lunch with a friend and ate the warm bread roll she offered before I even thought about it. 
My tooth is still a little sensitive sometimes but it is better than it was, whether the protocol made a difference or time was the healer, I don't know. Or maybe it's just the calm before the abcessed tooth storm hits, who knows?
I have lost a few kilos, which needed to go and eaten more nutrient dense foods for a month. Apart from the soft white roll I had at my friend's place, the only bread I have eaten is the tooth and gut friendly sourdough. I don't know how I will proceed in the future, giving up sugar completely is something I would find very hard to do but maybe I have developed some good habits and if I'm lucky I might have bought some time before another tooth makes way for a denture.

I intended to write this post more about the experience of following the diet but it took itself off in another direction so I will just add that the thing I have found hard is what to drink. I mostly drink water and coffee so I swapped coffee for tea and on most days I am happy with that but on a very hot day (and there have been a lot of them lately) I sometimes want a cold lemon cordial or an iced coffee. With those things out of the running I was stuck with tea or water. It became a bit of a drag and I don't think unsweetened cold tea is palatable. Do you have any favourite sugar free drinks that are suitable to drink in a sauna?


17 comments:

  1. I have a lot of fillings but mainly small ones so my teeth should last a while yet. I have one molar with a large filling and a root filling following an abscess. The dentist warned me the tooth might only last six months but so far it's lasted 9½ years so I must be doing something right diet-wise. I've no idea what diet is good for protecting teeth but I guess plenty of calcium helps as that's the main chemical component. Teeth also contain small amounts of sodium, magnesium and chlorine.

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    1. I had a root canal that failed and the tooth had to come out so that now has a denture which I was devastated about but you know, life is what it is. I don't know why my teeth are falling apart prematurely but it's not from soft drink!

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    2. most of us are magnesium deficient which makes the calcium unavailable to us, it's all about balance.
      Your root canal won't be supported by your diet because the tooth is dead and has no ability to repair itself but you can probably get it crowned, if you haven't already

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  2. I wear crowns and a partial denture. Little chance of tooth decay there. A couple of well wishers just this morning suggested that I follow a new regimen suggested in a book as a measure to reduce my weight. I found on research that it sounds quite interesting.

    https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2016/01/25/scarborough-doctors-book-says-insulin-makes-you-fat-fasting-makes-you-thin.html

    My friends are arranging to send the book to me later today.

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  3. The only way I can drink tea is cold and unsweetened. I think it tastes wonderful. If anyone gives me sweetened tea, I actually gag. Try it, you maybe be surprised at the refreshing taste.

    About 25 years ago, I had severe tooth pain and a root canal. I still have the pain.

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    1. 25 years is a long time to live with toothache!

      is your iced tea just regular black tea? do you put lemon or anything like that in it?

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  4. I tend to grind my teeth a lot I don’t know if I should, Well done on giving the sugar up. It’s the caus of most decay. All I drink is water so I can’t hep you.

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    1. Teeth grinding can do serious damage if it's severe enough. have you ever been offered a splint to stop you doing it?

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  5. I like a glass of milk now and again. I prefer it ice cold but it doesn't have to be.

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    1. I like milk, too. I have been drinking a banana smoothie every day so i kinda thought that should be the limit of my milk drinking

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  6. I like fridge-cold water in the hot weather. We're lucky to have good tap water here. About the only other cold drink I have is diet root beer, and that has artificial sweetener so you might prefer to avoid it. But what about an "infusion" (the latest big thing amongst the younger crowd) - add a few slices of lemon, lime, cucumber or some mint to a pitcher of water and let it sit for a few hours. I think it's supposed to have just a hint of flavouring after that time.

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    1. I forgot about infusions! they are quite nice for a change. mint and cucumber is good and i have seen blueberry recommended but that would be a waste of expensive blueberries

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  7. Like a lot of people, no doubt, I can scarcely imagine life without grains. For one thing, I love to bake, especially biscuits and crackers, although I keep some loaf breads on hand too.

    Are you watching any of the Olympics?

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    1. I successfully avoided grains for a short while but it would be harder to do long term. i really enjoy baked goods but grain free diets also mean no oats and no barley, no breakfast cereals etc

      I have watched snippets of ice dancing, snowboarding and speed skating but not huge amounts of the olympics. The height and steepness of the snowboarding ramp looks terrifying!

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    2. Gluten free diets are quite the thing here. I had never heard anything against them until just yesterday when I came across a brief magazine article about their downside, which I'll scan and send to you.

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    3. People get these fad ideas and gluten free is the current one! My sister is gluten free due to coeliac disease but for most of us there is no great advantage in it, especially if we remove gluten from our diets and replace it with super processed, commercial type gf foods. I'll be interested to read about it!

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