Most conventional dentistry practice is at a war with bacteria and is at a solemn belief that the bacteria in our mouth, the one’s that breakdown food and produce the very acid that causes our teeth to decay. 

But did you know that there is no correlation between this acid produced and the presence of tooth decay? Conventional medicine has got it wrong, really wrong. 

Recently, I came across a book called “Cure Tooth Decay” by Ramiel Nagel, and boy it was a page-turner. The book really opens the kimono on the real truth behind keeping our teeth in optional condition, and how dentists today are probably looking in the wrong direction.

In this article, we will discuss the Conventional medicine practices of dentistry, and how some dentists may be turning a blind eye to what we put in our mouth, and instead, burning a hole in our wallet. We will also discuss how our teeth are actually meant to be pretty resilient, and immune to tooth decay, and what we should be throwing into our gaping maws instead to ensure we have strong, healthy teeth.

Conventional Dentistry has got it all wrong.

Dentists believe that diet has little to do with tooth cavities. Yes, you read that right.

In conventional dentistry today, dentists are taught that if we leave food on our teeth, the acid produced by the bacteria on our teeth causes tooth decay. While I’m not endorsing we all go and throw out our toothbrush, dentistry believes that other than these food sticking to our teeth, diet doesn’t have much to do with it, and we’re doomed to have our tooth slowly decay and fall out of our mouth.

We’re taught that we must constantly rinse our mouth out with chemical-ridden mouthwashes and plaque-fighting formulas, to keep the bacteria at bay. When this doesn’t work, we must drill, prod and plug, and spend a fortune on dental fees, not ever really fixing the root cause of the problem, which ultimately comes back to what we are putting in our body.

Understandably, most conventional dentists aren’t exactly experts in nutrition, this is why usually consulting a functional, more holistic dentist and/or nutritionist works best when looking better advice on our teeth.

Our Teeth Are Actually Designed to Last

And God gave us teeth, each with an individual expiry date and limited amount of resiliency, okay not really.

It seems a bit silly doesn’t it though, that nature would design our teeth to decay and break down over the years, especially when they’re involved in food consumption, to gain nourishment for our body. Assuming we have all the correct essential nutrients, our teeth are actually designed to be strong, and cavity-free for our entire life.

The downside about tooth decay is that it is painful, and when we’re in pain, we generally opt for the easier solution, and that’s getting the sucker pulled out or filled. Even though we may be thinking at the time that there could be a real cause to it, once the pain is gone, we tend to go off on our merry way, continuing to throw processed foods and sugary beverages down our gaping maw.

Our teeth are actually designed to be immune to the bombardment of acid from either bacteria or food, but if our teeth aren’t given the right ingredients and building blocks, tooth density and structure are compromised. This leaves our teeth susceptible to cavities.

It’s All In What We Eat

Our modern food and lifestyle are the primary causes of tooth decay.

In 1915, a pretty prominent dentist by the name of Dr. Western Price traveled to various locations across the world, including The Loetschental Valley, Switzerland, and Native Australian Aborigines of Australia, and discovered one thing. All groups appeared to have 100% immunity to dental caries.

For example, Dr. Price compared the diet of Native Aborigines, with the more modernised, conventional diet. The diet of the natives consisted of roots, stems, leaves, berries, and large and small animals varying from large kangaroos to wallabies. It was primarily a hunter-gatherer diet, and the natives on these diets had almost pristine teeth. The more modern aborigines, on the other hand, had a diet high in processed sugar, white flour, packaged milk, and tinned meat, and had dental caries that were running rampant throughout their mouth.

Dr Price went on to compare the difference between the two diets, and highlights that the native’s had almost 5 times more calcium, 6 times more phosphorus, and almost 10 times the amount of fat-soluble vitamins, which is a pretty impressive contrast.

What We Actually Need for our Teeth

Despite eating a diet that’s low in processed foods, we need a diet that is rich in Calcium, Phosphorus, and Fat-Soluble Vitamins A, D, E and K. These vitamins are fat-soluble, because you guessed it, they’re found in fat.

The daily values recommended by Dr. Price himself include:
Calcium 1.5 grams
Phosphorus 2 grams
Vitamin A – 4,000 – 20,000 IU
Vitamin D – 1,000 – 4,000 IU
Fat Intake – 30 – 70% of our daily intake.

Seemingly, we can get most, if not all of these nutrients from foods such as Grass-fed dairy products, nourishing bone broths and organ meat, animal fats, fish and shellfish, and eggs.

You may be thinking, Whaaaat? Dairy products? Keeping in mind I’m talking about unpasturised, and non-homogenised dairy products, which are completely different.

It is often a common misconception that people can’t tolerate milk due to lactose intolerance, although it can more so be just a pasturisation-and-grain-fed-milk intolerance, ie.: an intolerance to drinking poor quality milk. Pasturisation is also said to destroy a particular enzyme in milk known as the phosphatase enzyme, which we often need to get the most out of the calcium in the milk [7, 8].

Let’s move on.

Cholesterol

One thing you will find high in animal fat is something that is feared by all, and wrongly labelled, and that’s cholesterol. Did you know we actually need Cholesterol for hormone production? Without it, we could run into a host of other issues. Your body actually produces almost 4 times the amount of cholesterol we eat, so keep that one in mind, too.

Vitamin D

One very important fat-soluble vitamin we need to ensure our calcium and phosphorus levels are balanced is vitamin D [2]. A protein known as osteocalcin, is involved in the deposition of calcium and phosphorous into our bones, and when we have adequate levels of Vitamin D (and other fat-soluble vitamins, including Vitamin A) we have enhanced levels of osteocalcin [3].

One of the best sources of Vitamin D can be simply through a Vitamin D supplement, and getting adequate amounts of sunlight on a daily basis. A good supplementary food source is Cod Liver Oil (link is the one I recommend), which contains a good ratio of EPA & DHA Fish oil, with a combination of Vitamin D and A.

Vitamin A

Eat plenty of carrots, right? Not particularly. Vitamin A found in carrots are called carotenes, these nutrients are water-soluble and not a true source of Vitamin A. Retinol, on the other hand, is the fat-soluble source found in animal fat, and while our body can convert carotenes into retinol, it’s a heck of a lot easier just to consume it in its fat-soluble form.

Vitamin A essential in combination with Vitamin D, and both work together to regulate bone growth, and ensure the body is utilising calcium effectively, when we’re deficient, calcium absorption and metabolism is limited.

From a supplementation standpoint, large doses of vitamin A can be toxic, although these toxic effects appear to be negated when we have adequate levels of Vitamin D. This is why Cod Liver Oil is a good option here too for VItamin A, or other liver-based food sources, if liver isn’t your thing, you can buy powdered liver in capsule form – Best of The Bone Organic Beef Liver Capsules (use code “CLARITY” for 10% OFF). Liver is chock full of many essential vitamins and minerals, and something I highly recommend overall for optimal well-being. 

The Anti-Nutrient – Phytic Acid 

Found in a range of grains, seeds, nuts, legumes and a range of commercial foods, even foods deemed as “healthy” are probably running rampant with this deleterious anti-nutrient. Phytic acid is known as a food inhibitor, which binds to phosphorus and many other minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc, which form a molecule known as phytate. When these molecules are formed, the bound mineral becomes unavailable [5]. 

What does this mean? This means the more anti-nutrients we’re getting in our diet the less essential nutrients we may be getting for our teeth, which potentially offsets the ratio that our body needs. 

So, the next time you’re walking down the health aisle stocking up on your healthy granola bars or whole-grain gluten-free bread loaf, if you have cavities now, your teeth probably won’t like you, and those cavities probably won’t heal.

Protein 

We need adequate levels of good quality, grass-fed or pasture-raised animal protein in our diet to look after our teeth. Not only does good quality animal meat contain many of the essential minerals and amino acids used to build healthy teeth, but it also balances our blood sugar.

When our blood sugar is constantly teeter-totting up and down from too many sugary beverages, refined sweeteners or sucking down “healthy” jumbo-sized fruit juices, we cause problems. Just like our blood sugar can fluctuate, the calcium and phosphorus levels in our blood can fluctuate along with it, putting the ideal ratios a bit out of whack. 

This means, if we have poor glycaemic control from let’s say, diabetes, we also have poor control over the health of our teeth [6].

If you’re looking for a premium protein product, look no further than the UM Sports range – These guys use protein from quality sources (NZ Grass-fed) and are Australian-owned!

Summary

• Bacteria in our mouth are not all dangerous, in fact, some may be actually beneficial for our health and overall microbiome that could fight other systematic diseases.
• Diet plays a huge factor in the health of our teeth, and if we’re eating a diet low in fat-soluble vitamins, essential minerals and amino acids, our teeth and bones are probably not going to be too healthy.
• Blood sugar fluctuations and anti-nutrients such as phytic acid also play a role in disrupting the body’s chemical balance of calcium, phosphorus, and other important minerals.

If you are interested more in how you can complete heal your teeth, naturally, I highly recommend picking up a copy of the book, Cure Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel.

If you have any feedback regarding this article, reach out. Help Clarity reach more people and quit addiction by following us on Instagram, it’s also the perfect place to message us and ask questions!

All the best in health,
Former Drinker & Clinical Nutritionist
Stephen Brumwell.

References

1. Nagel, R. (2012). Cure tooth decay: Remineralize cavities and repair your teeth naturally with good food [Second edition]. Ramiel Nagel.
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2669834/
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6414302/
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4377877/
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4325021/
6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24529565/
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5958646/
8. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24753180/

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Stephen Brumwell

Former drinker, Nutritionist, Biohacking enthusiast, self-experimenter, research fanatic, and self-taught writer, Stephen immerses himself deep into the literature of human optimisation and better understand the nature of addiction. His goal is to help people take control of their addiction, reset their cravings, unscramble their broken brain circuitry and use actionable strategies that work ten times better than anything else.