Monday, January 19, 2015

Remineralizing our teeth - diet

I had recently several of my fillings fall out, and at first I wanted to fix them at the dentist. He told me, that because cavities are large, and he would have to drill deeper to make the fillings hold, it would be to close to the nerves, I would have to have 2 root canals. I decided to research, and at first I thought I could find a dentist, that doesn't do regular drilling and uses laser or ozone to clean the cavity, but I found tooth remineralization information. That is even better! I searched for many hours, and decided to share, what I found out. First, I want to tell you, that since not much scientific research is done about this, most of it is taken from people experience, and many variables can be in the picture, which we are not aware of yet. So it is a journey, and some markers for it, not set of rigid rules.
Some information sources say, that deep cavities can't remineralize fully, and some say, that they can -just takes a few years, even though decay and softness will reverse soon, just filling in takes a while. I would imagine that depends on how much of nutrients that particular person was getting, and how well their digestive system worked.
 Diet is the most important part. Teeth are alive organs with fluids flowing through them and constantly renewing themselves -but if there is not enough nutrition to support healthy tooth, that balance is disturbed, and we get cavities and gum problems. Not eating anything processed is not enough though -all seeds (including grains and nuts) contain high amounts of phytic acid, that binds with minerals, and we can't absorb them. So those foods, no matter how high in nutrients they might be, technically they are almost empty calories to us. There are ways to reduce phytic acid in them - soaking for long time, sprouting, fermenting help to reduce some. Eating them with lots of dark greens. I was even thinking about eating some chocolate (yes, it is seed too!) first thing in the morning (and then not to eat anything for a while as to not to steal minerals from other foods I would eat). That would work for occasional indulgence, if that is true, that phytic acid binds just with foods in the stomach, and not with minerals in our bones and teeth. I found different opinions about this during my search. In any case, for now I am not using it at all.
   So what are great foods to eat to remineralize teeth and bones? Here are important ones:
* Dark leafy greens - kale, collards, chard, New Zealand spinach, Malabar spinach, regular spinach, beet greens. Even better - wild greens. I juice weeds from my garden such as chickweed, lambsquarters, nettles, purslane, common mallow, etc. Juicing is great, if digestion is weak, because juice takes very little digesting - all that goodness is in your blood within minutes. I mix my with a few carrots to improve the taste. If you are a vegan, this is your best chance. A lot of sources say, that vegans can't remineralize their teeth, but I think it is possible, if they use large amounts of wild greens. Victoria Boutenko, and her family seemed to have a good experience with that once they upped their green consumption. They drink lots of green smoothies (fruit and greens blended), and that is another easy and tasty way to eat the greens. I personally tend to juice wild greens, and blend "domesticated" greens like kale. Wild greens have smaller leaves and tougher stems, so it is easier that way. How much to eat daily? There is no set answer - if that's your only high mineral intake food and you need to remineralize, I would go to about 2 bunches a day worth of domesticated, and a bit less for wild since they are more nutritious.
* Pastured eggs - they have to be from chickens, that are healthy, run in the sun, scratch bugs, eat greens, and generally are raised with love. Their yolk will be darker (almost orange), and shell generally will be tougher than factory farmed ones. Even if you have to drive a distance to find them, it is worth it. Unwashed eggs(and even washed) can keep a long time, so drive wouldn't be needed very often.
  It seems, that eating raw eggs is best, soft boiled -second best. You can make your own mayo and eggnog for delicious and easy way to eat them
* Vegetables and fruit - vegetables unlimited, and 1 or 2 pieces of fruit a day. Too much sugar, even if from fruit tends to disbalance the ph. That said, it is not the sugar that sits on your teeth is reason for decay, but the one, that goes inside of you. Just brushing immediately after eating a candy, won't help much.
* Pastured butter and dairy - again, pastured is the key here. The more greens cows or goats eat, the healthier their milk will be. Raw is also much better than pasteurized. I have trouble digesting pasteurized milk, so until I am able to find raw pastured milk, I make yogurt from it, and seem to be doing fine with it. I am also looking for kefir grains for added variety of good bacteria as I have a sensitive digestion tract.
* Pastured meat (organ meat included) and bone broth. More and more stores now carry pastured muscle meats, but bones are not that easy to find. Also, pastured animal meat is tougher (they are less flabby as you can imagine), and in order to taste good, has to be dry aged. Whole Foods pastured meat is not and tastes not that good. Best bet is to buy from online or local farms, that pasture raise their animals and dry age the meat. They sell bones as well. Bone broth can be made once in a while frozen in small portions. How much I understand, eating muscle meats have to be balanced with bone nutrients. Second best thing instead of bone broth is to take gelatin supplements made from pastured animals. There are also supplements made from animal liver for organ meat intake.
  I am not such a big fan of eating meat though, and I hope, that pastured eggs, and dairy might be enough for rebuilding teeth, but since I am not sure, I do eat some meats until I do more research about that.
You can see, that edible flowers are great in salads as well -nasturtiums, borage, calendula.
I noticed, that I get full really quickly on the nutritious foods, and my dilemma is now not to how to eat less, but how to eat more. I do trust my body though more than my research, so if i am not hungry, that means it is enough.
Anyway this post is getting rather long, so I will have to cover other aspects of teeth remineralizing in other posts. Share you ideas and experiences in the comments. Happy remineralizing!

No comments: