Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health
Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health

How to prevent tooth decay and save your teeth

What is tooth decay?

Teeth cleaning / dental hygiene / oral hygiene

Diet to prevent tooth decay

Good foods for your teeth

Promote good flow of saliva

Correct boron deficiency

Get sufficient alkaline minerals

Alkaline / antibacterial mouthwash

References

Prevention of dental caries and early treatment is so much less painful and less expensive than waiting until extensive tooth decay causes unsightly damaged or lost teeth, and other severe health problems. If you do need a dentist, check the Grow Youthful Worldwide Directory of Holistic Mercury-Free Dentists.

Teeth cleaning / dental hygiene / oral hygiene

The primary purpose of brushing and flossing is to remove and prevent the formation of plaque.

How to clean your teeth properly

Bacteria build up in the recesses on your teeth, between your teeth, and in the space between your gums and teeth (the sulcus).

It takes these sulcular bacteria about 36 hours to build up a colony and secrete their acids, enzymes and other toxins that cause tooth decay, gum disease and erosion of the bone and structure holding the teeth. This means you only need to clean your teeth once a day, though it is a good idea to remove any food residue (especially sugar and other carbohydrates) after eating or drinking.

Proper cleaning takes several minutes. The most effective way to clean your teeth is the Charles C. Bass method. Use a soft, bristled brush. Hold it at a 45 degree angle to the tooth and gums. Gently make a tiny wiggling movement to get the bristles down into the sulcus, the area between the tooth and gums. Once the bristles are in the sulcus, make a very small back-and-forth motion. Keep the movement very short, hardly more than a vibration, otherwise you will pull the bristles out of the sulcus. Do this for a few seconds, then move on to the next area to clean. Clean both sides of each tooth this way. To clean the smaller teeth in the front of your mouth, place your brush across them to work the bristles into the sulcus.

The best toothbrush has thin, fine, dense bristles. The bristles are soft, thin and packed closely together, and this kind of high quality toothbrush looks completely different to a conventional toothbrush. If the bristles are made from nylon, the ends of the bristles are rounded. The jagged ends of cut nylon bristles are very tough and abrasive.

Toothpaste. A healthy toothpaste or tooth powder contains no surfactants, no emulsifiers, no foaming agents, no essential oils and no other chemicals which you would not eat in any quantity. Ingredients to look for include hydroxyapatite, sodium bicarbonate (bicarb or baking soda), boron, sea salt, coconut oil, chalk, and possibly bentonite clay. Fluoride is actually beneficial for the teeth when applied directly to the teeth (topically), but is extremely harmful when ingested and circulating anywhere else in the body.

Flossing your teeth is also an essential part of your daily cleaning routine. If you have not flossed before, it takes a while to learn how to do it properly. Take about 60 cm / 24" of dental floss and wind it several times round the index finger of each hand. You want a taught length of dental floss 5-10 cm / 2-4" long to work between the teeth. Work it between each pair of teeth, and then gently move it up and down the concealed sides of each tooth. After you have flossed a tooth or two, re-wind the floss on your fingers so the next length of unused floss is ready to use.

When you first start flossing and cleaning this way, your gums may bleed. This is quite normal if your gums are infected. As your gums heal, the bleeding will stop.

Oil pulling is another effective method of cleaning your teeth, in particular it is one of the few home treatments for tartar / calculus.

Diet to prevent tooth decay

People who never had refined carbohydrates (sugar or flour) from the youngest age (as in many traditional societies) often keep a full and healthy set of teeth all their lives. This is the most important step you can take to stop the formation of dental plaque, calculus and tartar. (1)

How frequently you eat carbohydrates, especially refined carbohydrates and sugar, is critical. If the bacteria in your mouth have a steady supply of sugar and other carbohydrates they produce more acids that demineralise tooth enamel, dentin, and cementum. This acid environment causes dental caries / decay. In other words, frequent snacking, especially on anything made with carbohydrates like flour or sugar, creates a continuous supply of nutrition for acid-creating bacteria in the mouth to erode your teeth. (1)

Eliminate sugar. If you are consuming sugar, plaque will build up on your teeth. Sugar is also the favourite food of the sulcular bacteria that lurk in the sulcus, the area between your teeth and gums.

Chewy sticky foods like dried fruit or sweets/candy tend to stick to the teeth, so are best eaten before other foods.

After eating a sweet or carbohydrate meal, it is a good idea to brush your teeth and rinse out the mouth.

High acid foods and drinks. Colas, cans of drink, soft drinks, sports drinks, vinegar, and supermarket fruit juices are examples of acid drinks.

Good foods for your teeth

Promote good flow of saliva

Drink sufficient water throughout the day, especially if it is hot or you are sweating. Here are details on how much water to drink and a simple test to check if you are getting too much or too little water.

Production of saliva may be restricted because of damaged salivary glands or diabetes.

A wide variety of drugs inhibit the production of saliva. This includes pharmaceutical drugs, many medications such as antihistamines and antidepressants, and recreational drugs such as methyl amphetamine, cannabis and tobacco.

Correct boron deficiency

Boron deficiency is widespread, and is a common cause of tooth decay and bone loss (osteoporosis). Supplementation is done with borax.

Get sufficient alkaline minerals

If you have sufficient alkaline minerals in your blood and saliva, you will enjoy good health and protection from tooth decay. In particular, if you have good calcium and magnesium buffering capacity in your saliva this will help the remineralisation (rebuilding) of your teeth.

Sodium bicarbonate strengthens tooth enamel. Use sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) as a mouthwash every day. Sodium bicarb can be used as a substitute for toothpaste, or if you are making your own tooth cleaning powder, use it as the main ingredient.

Eat an alkaline diet and live an alkaline-forming lifestyle as described in Grow Youthful.

Antiseptic / antibacterial mouthwash

Hydrogen peroxide can be used as an antibacterial mouthwash.

Colloidal silver is a good mouthwash. I have a friend who successfully treated a tooth abscess using colloidal silver, and avoided his dentist's recommendation of a root canal for that tooth.

I do not recommend commercial mouthwashes because they contain synthetic chemicals that are absorbed through your mouth or accidentally swallowed. They may also have an antibiotic action to prevent the formation of a healthy bacterial biome in your mouth. I would prefer to use one of the less damaging natural products above.

References

1. May Mellanby, C. Lee Pattison. Remarks on the influence of a cereal-free diet rich in vitamin d and calcium on dental caries in children. Br Med J. 1932 Mar 19; 1(3715): 507-510. PMCID: PMC2520490.