Healing Cavities through Nutrition

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all articles: http://www.naturalfamilyawareness.com/blog/?cat=52

Healing Cavities through NutritionPosted in General Articles, Nutrition, Dental Care by Lea on the April 10th, 2007

Tooth decay is caused by a deficiency of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients the body needs to build healthy teeth. The two most important minerals teeth need are calcium and phosphate. Unfortunately, for the teeth, other places of the body also need these minerals. So if you’re running short, the minerals will migrate out of your teeth, and bones, and go to more important places, like your heart and other organs.

For optimal tooth health, you need to avoid foods that contribute to decay, and carry minerals out of the body. Some of these foods are:

* Sugar (all forms) which leaches calcium out of the bones.* White flour (such as bread, crackers, cereals, pastas). White flour has the vitamins and minterals removed to promote shelf life. Fresh flour will go rancid in two weeks, even when refrigerated.* Pasteurized dairy products (all forms). Heat from pasteurization kills both good and bad bacteria, causes a loss of half the vitamin C, and up to 80% of all other vitamins, including 100% of vitamin B-12. It also changes the structure, causing it to strain the digestive system, and because the digestive-aiding enzymes are destroyed, it can cause allergies or an intolerance.* Iodized salt, which has had all valuable minerals removed.* Grains, nuts, and seeds which have not been soaked or sprouted. Processing these grains by high heat destroys digestive enzymes, but leaves phytic acid, which combines with minerals (calcium, magnesium, iron, etc.), blocking their absorption.

“Secondary dentine” which is dentin generated on an as-needed basis, which enamel has been worn away and cavities have begun. This secondary dentine can heal the spot by patching it up or rebuilding the tooth. But this will only occur if the body has enough vitamin D, otherwise it may not generate at all. One study concluded the calcium content of saliva doubled or tripled when enough cod liver oil was present in the diet (cod liver oil contains alot of vitamin D).

Dr. Weston A. Price, who in the 1930’s and ’40’s used a mixture of cod liver oil and butter oil to cure cavities. The short story is, Dr. Price decided to find out the cause of dental decay, and so he travelled the world, visiting the people with the best teeth - primitives. After observing their diet, he discovered primitives consumed at least four times as many water soluble vitamins (calcium and other minerals) and ten times the fat soluble vitamins (vitamins A and D) from animals foods (fish eggs, butter from grass-fed cows) than those with modern (American) diets.

He also found an additional fat soluble vitamin which he called Activator X (scientists now call this the Price Factor). Activator X is similar to vitamins A and D, helping the body to absorb minerals that would otherwise be lost. The good news is, Activator X is not lost through pasteurization, although it disappears in cows fed high amounts of protein or soy.

Not all primitives had perfect teeth - there were also primitives with terrible teeth. Crooked, crowded, decayed. He found these primitives had adopted a modern (American) diet, consisting of sugary breakfast cereals and white flour products. For these, Dr. Price daily fed them a lunch containing a day’s supply of calcium and twice the amount of phosphorus. He began with 1/2 teaspoon high vitamin cod liver oil and 1/2 teaspoon high vitamin butter oil in 4 ounces of tomato (or orange) juice. Then, 1 pint of beef broth stew made with fine cuts of tender meat and lots of vegetables, particularly carrots (or fish chowder or liver, depending on the day); cooked fruit (no artificial sweetener); rolls made from freshly-ground whole wheat, spread with high vitamin butter; 2 glasses raw milk.

They still had their sugary breakfast and otherwise lousy eating habits the rest of the day, and yet he had a 90% success rate of healing their cavities (including one girl with 42 cavities on 24 teeth!). There are photos of the x-rays in Dr. Price’s book, as well as on the web.

Once your teeth start getting sensitive, it’s a clue that you’re losing minerals, and you need to grow some enamel back. Or, if you already have cavities forming, you will need calcium, phosphate, magnesium, and a variety of enzymes to grow enamel back. Taking a multi-vitamin won’t solve this problem, as the RDA’s are the minimum amounts necessary for survival - not optimal health.

Here is a list of foods to consume for healthy teeth:

* Cod Liver Oil and butter oil, taken together * Raw dairy from grass-fed cows. Butter, kefir, yogurt, cheese, milk.* Animal proteins, such as eggs, fish, or liver* Lots of greens and raw (stir-fried or lightly steamed) vegetables* Soup made from bone broth and containing green vegetables, topped with seaweed.* Soaked and/or sprouted nuts and grains.* Sea salt (full of minerals)* Herbs: lemongrass, lemon balm, red raspberry leaf

If you want to learn more about Weston A. Price, visit http://www.westonaprice.org or purchase his book “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.” Another great book, is “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon - who is carrying on the work of Dr. Price - containing recipes and food advice for healthy teeth, and health in general.

-Lea

Fluoride, a longtime blessing, now a curse?Posted in General Articles, Health & Wellness, Dental Care by Lea on the June 5th, 2007

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/06/04/news_pf/Tampabay/Fluoride__a_longtime_.shtml

Fluoride, a longtime blessing, now a curse?

A debate follows a warning by the ADA about giving babies fluoridated water.

By WILL VAN SANTPublished June 4, 2007

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Few noticed in November when the American Dental Association alerted its members via e-mail of a possible problem with giving babies fluoridated water:

The ADA, long among fluoride’s biggest advocates, wrote that parents of infants younger than a year old “should consider using water that has no or low levels of fluoride” when mixing baby formula.

Public health agencies in some states, like Vermont and New Hampshire, responded by issuing warnings through the media based on the ADA e-mail.

But it would be four months before Florida’s Department of Health would relay the ADA’s message on its Web site along with its own seemingly contradictory footnote: “Mixing formula with fluoridated water poses no known health risks.”

Neither Hillsborough nor Pinellas counties’ water utilities - both of which use fluoride additive - passed along the warning.

So is fluoridated water safe for infants? It depends on whom you ask.

* * *

The issue for the ADA and for babies is fluorosis, a condition caused by too much fluoride that damages the enamel of teeth. In its milder forms, fluorosis causes white specks or streaks to appear. More severe cases involve dark staining and pitting of tooth enamel, which can increase the likelihood of decay and infection.

Both sides in the fluoride debate agree severe cases are rarely seen in those whose water is fluoridated at recommended levels. Mild fluorosis is more common and fluoride backers have argued for years that such cases are cosmetic and not harmful.

Yet some scientists warn even mild to moderate cases may lead to more significant problems.

Two things led the ADA to issue its e-mail, said Daniel Meyer, the group’s senior vice president of science and professional affairs. One was an October announcement by the Food and Drug Administration allowing health claims on bottled fluoridated water - except when marketed to infants.

The other was a report released in March 2006 by the National Research Council, which had been asked by the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate the federal safety limits for fluoride that naturally occurs in drinking water. The safety limit: 4 parts per million.

The report found that the EPA limit is too high and associated with harmful dental effects and an increased risk of bone fractures. Not addressed in the report was the safety of treated water supplies - which have much lower concentrations. Pinellas and Hillsborough counties average around 0.8 parts per million.

The report also concluded that additional research was warranted because of previous work that had suggested links between fluoride and lowered IQs in children and bone cancer. And it raised questions about the connection between baby formula reconstituted with fluoridated water and fluorosis.

In light of the report and the FDA’s new rule, the ADA’s Meyer said a decision was made to send the e-mail, but he made clear that his group’s overall position supporting fluoridating water supplies was unchanged.

“The overwhelming evidence, ” Meyer said, “is that at the proper levels, fluoride is very effective and very safe.”

That some should treat the ADA e-mail with more gravity than others is not surprising. Adding fluoride to drinking water to prevent tooth decay has been a public health staple for 60 years. Yet skeptics have claimed the practice does more harm than good.

The rhetoric can be extreme. Supporters have been slammed as lapdogs for the chemical fertilizer industry that benefits by selling its waste to water suppliers as a fluoridation agent. And critics are often derided as deluded fearmongers blind to the support fluoridation has from the scientific community.

With a 6-1 vote of the Pinellas County Commission in 2004, about 600, 000 residents joined the estimated 170-million people nationwide whose water is fluoridated.

St. Petersburg, Dunedin, Gulfport and Belleair were already adding fluoride to their water. Pinellas supplies water to all other county residents. Hillsborough County, Tampa and Temple Terrace also fluoridate.

After learning of the ADA e-mail last year, Pinellas Utilities Department director Pick Talley said he contacted the state Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to gauge the seriousness of the threat. No public outreach was warranted, Talley said he was told, so his department was silent.

“We kind of follow the mainstream medical advice on fluoridation, ” Talley said. “There are a lot more serious issues that mothers need to know about when it comes to their infants.”

Similarly, Hillsborough County utility officials stayed mum, doubting the significance of the ADA e-mail.

That attitude infuriates Tom Nocera, a Clearwater resident who has blasted Pinellas County for its decision to fluoridate.

“They are trying to protect policies that have been in place for a number of years, ” said Nocera, 58, a federal government employee who works in disaster relief. “They don’t want to be proven wrong.”

Kathleen Thiessen, one of the NRC report’s 12 authors, is sympathetic to Nocera’s view. A scientist who specializes in assessing toxic risks, Thiessen said studies done overseas have associated mild to moderate fluorosis with lower IQs, endocrine system problems and skeletal damage.

Thiessen, who along with two other authors of the report have gained reputations as fluoride skeptics, said the ADA’s e-mail should be of particular concern to poor parents enrolled in the federal government’s Women, Infant and Children Nutrition Program.

For the most part, parents can use WIC checks to buy only powdered or condensed formula, which must be mixed with water.

Neither the ADA e-mail nor the NRC report has led to a groundswell of skepticism about fluoridation. But they have been affirmation for former Pinellas County Commissioner Barbara Sheen who cast the lone vote against adding fluoride to the water supply.

“The very things that I feared are now the things that are showing up, ” Todd said.

Fast Facts:

What goes in your water?

Like much about the fluoride debate, fluorosilic acid can be made to appear better or worse simply by how it’s described. The acid is what’s added to water supplies to fight tooth decay.

Critics of the process call the acid an industrial waste product. Supporters prefer industry byproduct.

Whatever it’s called, the major portion of the fluorosilic acid added to the nation’s water supply comes from Florida’s phosphate fertilizer industry. Here’s how:

Florida’s phosphate rock is about 3.5 percent fluorine. To make phosphoric acid for fertilizer, the rock is mixed with sulfuric acid. The mixture produces a gas called silicon tetrafluoride. The gas is sent through ductwork and a water scrubber to create fluorosilic acid, a clear liquid that in high concentrations is toxic. The acid is what fertilizer companies sell as a fluoride additive. It’s diluted to what’s considered a safe level when pumped into water supplies.

Source: Florida Institute of Phosphate Research