teeth

nick · Post by **nick** » Mon 01 May 2006 19:00

Thanks CurlyGirl! You got my back!

Yeah, I think I will try it because I have noticed a light brain fog lately which isn't good. I think I have some in my cabinet somwhere. I need to see exactly how it works so that it doesn't create other imbalances as well.

Thanks!

Chin-Chin · Post by **Chin-Chin** » Mon 01 May 2006 19:51

Avalon,

You are right about not putting the whole diet in air. It's just that I have a very low threshold for pain and my gums are killing me!

And by the way, I am blending bananas or mangos + lots of honey and olive oil, but I still think it's the orange juice...

Nick,

Are you gums getting better with brushing? I think the culprit in my case was the orange juice. What have you noticed?

Thanks,
Chin-Chin

Chin-Chin · Post by **Chin-Chin** » Mon 01 May 2006 20:00

Cairidh wrote:The only way to eat fruit without it being harmful to your teeth is to juice it, and drink the juice with a straw, being careful to take the juice right into the back of your throat (its crafty at making its way to your mouth and teeth, even with a straw).

Cairidh,

Where did you learn that? Just curious. Sounds plausible, although a bit absurd - me sipping away my fruit cocktails on my balcony...

avalon · Post by **avalon** » Mon 01 May 2006 20:17

Edited by Brian: This was actually posted by Brian but somehow it is showing up as posted by avalon? Anyway, this is my post.

you might also try rinsing with hydrogen peroxide, but don't swallow. Can be a miracle helper.

Hydrogen peroxide is a mutagen.

It is not clear if the diluted solutions available to consumers pose such a risk, however...

avalon · Post by **avalon** » Mon 01 May 2006 20:59

I was looking up acidic drinks, rather, searching for a non acidic smoothie recipe, and found one site that said Tea was acidic. I gave up coffee almost four months ago and substituted Green Tea. I just bought a ton of tea to last almost a year as it was such a great price. So all of a sudden I'm thinking, Jeeze will my Green Tea damage my teeth?

Not sure about that yet, but this site about Green Tea implies it may be good for teeth.

http://www.irishhealth.com/index.html?level=4&id=4882

Green tea catechins can help to prevent tooth decay by killing the bacteria (Streptococcus mutans) that cause dental plaque. Green tea also contains fluoride. One cup of brewed green tea contains around 0.3-0.5 mg of fluoride. This is an optimal level of fluoride according to dentists. As we all know, fluoride builds in our teeth's enamel, making it more resistant against acidic environment, of our mouth. Green tea also eliminates other bacteria that responsible for bad breath. According to researchers, green tea polyphenols can inhibit, by 30%, the growth of bacteria that causes unpleasant breath.

a good read in any case.

Chin-Chin · Post by **Chin-Chin** » Mon 01 May 2006 21:32

Avalon,

I have a lot of tea in my place too. Make sure that they are air-tight and you can put them in the fridge if you are not sure to consume them in the near future.

I have a lot of green tea and I always find it very stylish to serve them to my guests even if I don't drink any. You can also give them away as gifts.

The question is: do you enjoy tea? I enjoyed coffee because of the social thing, but as I found out that it wasn't that good for me, I realized that I didn't love it that much!

I think that green tea can stain your teeth, but not because of its acidity

OK, you can see that I really skimped over chemistry in high school, but I was really good in maths and physics

Chin-Chin · Post by **Chin-Chin** » Mon 01 May 2006 21:44

I found this research article:

Dental erosions in subjects living on a raw food diet.
Ganss C, Schlechtriemen M, Klimek J.
Department of Operative and Preventive Dentistry, Dental Clinic, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany. Carolina.Ganss@dentist.med.uni-giessen.de
The aim of the study was to investigate the frequency and severity of dental erosions and its association with nutritional and oral hygiene factors in subjects living on a raw food diet. As part of a larger dietary study 130 subjects whose ingestion of raw food was more than 95% of the total food intake were examined. The median duration of the diet was 39 (minimum 17, maximum 418) months. Before the clinical examination, the participants answered questionnaires and recorded their food intake during a 7-day period. Dental erosions were registered using study models. As a control 76 sex- and age-matched patients from our clinic were randomly selected. The raw food diet records showed the median daily frequency of ingesting citrus fruit to be 4.8 (minimum 0.5, maximum 16.1). The median intake of fruit was 62% (minimum 25%, maximum 96%) of the total, corresponding to an average consumption of 9.5 kg of fruit (minimum 1.5, maximum 23.7) per week. Compared to the control group subjects living on a raw food diet had significantly (p</=0.001) more dental erosions. Only 2.3% of the raw food group (13.2% of the controls) had no erosive defects, whereas 37.2% had at least one tooth with a moderate erosion (55.2% of the controls) and 60.5% had at least one tooth with a severe erosion (31.6% of the controls). Within the raw food group no significant correlation was found between nutrition or oral health data and the prevalence of erosions. Nevertheless, the results showed that a raw food diet bears an increased risk of dental erosion compared to conventional nutrition.
PMID: 9831783 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

nick · Post by **nick** » Tue 02 May 2006 01:27

Chin-Chin wrote: And by the way, I am blending bananas or mangos + lots of honey and olive oil, but I still think it's the orange juice...

Are the oranges really ripe?
I try and make sure mine are ripe to a bit overripe.
This has helped. Also adding more oil has helped too! I started adding more recently due to my inflammed gums and this has helped with my teeth. I floss in the evening and brush my teeth twice a day.

Are you gums getting better with brushing? I think the culprit in my case was the orange juice. What have you noticed?

Indeed, better brushing has helped and flossing thoroughly, making sure to get deep enough.
I think adding more oil has helped. Make sure the oranges are ripe enough. This didn't become a problem till like 6 months on the diet, then I paid better attention to the ripeness of my oranges.

Chin-Chin · Post by **Chin-Chin** » Tue 02 May 2006 10:12

Perhaps your teeth are less sensitive than mine, Nick.

Me, I'm only on the 14th day, and I started having inflammated gums as soon as I started using oranges. It's hard to tell if they are very ripe...

Post by **Oscar** » Tue 02 May 2006 14:26

I don't think oranges are the direct cause of inflammation, but they can be an indirect one. Inflammation is a sign of our body's defensive reaction to harmful organisms like bacteria and virusses. I might be mistaken, but I've never heard of acid causing inflammation. What I can imagine however, is the acid eroding our teeth, meaning the surface gets more rough, so plaque can more easily stick to the surface. The bacteria in the plaque then cause the inflammation.

nick · Post by **nick** » Thu 11 May 2006 17:58

Oscar wrote:I don't think oranges are the direct cause of inflammation, but they can be an indirect one. Inflammation is a sign of our body's defensive reaction to harmful organisms like bacteria and virusses. I might be mistaken, but I've never heard of acid causing inflammation.

I think you are right. I added more oil to my juice and my teeth have improved greatly. In fact, where I had some erosion, my tooth is healing back up to normal. Good sleep is essential as well!

RRM is right about the protective affect of adding oil to counteract the acids in the juice. I think this is the key!

Some people will need more oil while others need less in order to protect their teeth. Has anyone else experienced this?

Oscar,
I have been flossing and doing the bass method for brushing and throughout the day I use a toothpick. But the inflammation hasn't really improved. It hurts less so maybe it is improving to some degree.

What I can imagine however, is the acid eroding our teeth, meaning the surface gets more rough, so plaque can more easily stick to the surface. The bacteria in the plaque then cause the inflammation.

And since the bacteria need sugar, sugar has a direct effect of fueling the problem but isn't the cause.

Is their certain bacteria that eat away the teeth? Or is that strictly acids?

Post by **Oscar** » Thu 11 May 2006 18:14

As far as I know it's strictly acids (bacteria produce acid). If it hurts less, it should be improving. How do your gums react at the moment?

avalon · Post by **avalon** » Thu 11 May 2006 21:37

Has anyone heard of Oil Pulling and what effect that might havce on teeth?

What about using olive oil instead of toothpaste???

Post by **Oscar** » Thu 11 May 2006 23:12

Oil pulling??

Olive oil as toothpaste...maybe soap is a better idea, pH wise? On the other hand, why use a toothpaste at all?

avalon · Post by **avalon** » Thu 11 May 2006 23:20

Oil pulling or swishing is essentially rinsing your mouth with oil for at least, I believe 5 minutes, pulling it through gaps and all around until it becomes a while froth something

Then you spit out.

This supposed to draw toxins from your body.

I've never tried it, but sure seems simple enough.