Nothing To Smile About

Tooth decay is something you associate with adults, but more and more it’s happening to children. Recently ABC aired a special called Children of the Moutain that dealt with children in the Appalachian region and the rampant tooth decay that is prevalent there. One of the main culprits is the soft drink Mountain Dew. While all sodas have caffeine and sugar, apparently Mountain Dew is more acidic than most and has a devastating effect on teeth when combined with poor oral hygiene and diet.

I’m a recovering Dew addict myself so the story is timely for me. My last new cavity was over ten years ago, but recently I had a stressful situation at home and I fell back into some old habits. End result? A new cavity. It’s not a huge one so I did a bit of research to see if modern dentistry had come up with something other than drilling a bigger hole in my head and filling it with toxic metal.

Do you know you can cure tooth decay with diet? I was blown away after reading that, but apparently it’s true. I found several authoritive sites that talk about remineralization of teeth, but Ramiel Nagel’s book, Cure Tooth Decay gave the best explanation.

We’re taught that bacteria causes tooth decay, but sweets made from refined sugar and flour do not attract bacteria. The nutrients that bacteria like to eat have been removed from sugar and flour so theoretically we could cure tooth decay by chewing on sugar all day—if bacteria were the reason for tooth decay.

Let’s say you place a cup of sugar and some raw meat on your kitchen table. Which will rot? Of course bugs and bacteria will swarm the meat. This disproves the current explanation that bacteria causes tooth decay since bacteria cannot live off sugar. The real reason for tooth decay is malnutrition. Our bodies don’t have the building blocks to build new enamel as it wears away.

In his book, Nagel says that there are several variables for tooth decay such as genetics and even the type of birth control you use, but primarily a lack of fat-soluble vitamins that act as activators for minerals is the culprit. He quotes liberally from studies done by Dr. Weston Price, the first research director of the National Dental Association which later morphed into the American Dental Associaton.

Price spent years doing field studies of indigenous people and their diets. He found common denominators in populations that didn’t even use tooth brushes but have healthy cavity-free teeth. At the end of one study, Price wrote,

Tooth decay is not only unnecessary, but an indication of our divergence from Nature’s fundamental laws of life and health.

Nagel, who is a father of two girls, was prompted to write the book after one of his daughters developed cavities even though her diet was closely monitored for sugary foods. I’m finding it a gem of information and think you’ll benefit as well. At any rate, the cost of the information in the book is far cheaper than what you’ll pay your dentist.