Raw helping teeth problems?

[Shmoopie]

Has raw helped anyone with any problems with their teeth at all?

[Bethanie]

:) I've been troubled with an abscess for quite some time, my gums would swell up so bad and look so bad i hated to go out anywhere.
Since going raw i haven't suffered much from the problem and the abscess is trying to go away, it goes and comes and is somewhat smaller.
My teeth don't ache as much as they use to and seem at times stronger. :)
Bethanie

[juliebove]

My teeth look whiter. However... They are cracking at an alarming rate. Dentist thinks I may be grinding them at night. I haven't noticed that but I do think I might be clenching my jaws when I sleep. Don't think raw is the cause of that though, but it also isn't helping with the cracked teeth.

[vgloveforlife]

Julie,
I clench my teeth when I sleep too. I just noticed myself doing that. I wake up with clenched teeth. I wonder what causes it. Maybe stress or worry?

As for my teeth, I am not 100% raw but my teeth have really gotten worse since going on high raw. They are bleeding all the time and it looks like my gums are receding. I see new cavaties forming. I finally went and bought a waterpik and that has helped with the bleeding.
Like someone said before, when you are raw you just have to focus more energy on taking care of your teeth.

[Shmoopie]

As for my teeth, I am not 100% raw but my teeth have really gotten worse since going on high raw. They are bleeding all the time and it looks like my gums are receding. I see new cavaties forming. I finally went and bought a waterpik and that has helped with the bleeding.
Like someone said before, when you are raw you just have to focus more energy on taking care of your teeth.

I wonder why this is. Is it a mineral or a nutrient that isn't in a lot of foods, and some people just aren't eating the foods that contain it? Is it a calcium thing? I wish I knew where to learn more about this lol

Personally, I have weak enamel. I'm also not eating a raw diet just yet. I was high raw for a minute there (and loving every second of it! Can't wait to start working again and get on track), and then I lost my job, and...well you know how it goes lol. Anyway, I wonder if eating raw would strengthen my teeth/enamel.

[juliebove]

I wonder why this is. Is it a mineral or a nutrient that isn't in a lot of foods, and some people just aren't eating the foods that contain it? Is it a calcium thing? I wish I knew where to learn more about this lol

Personally, I have weak enamel. I'm also not eating a raw diet just yet. I was high raw for a minute there (and loving every second of it! Can't wait to start working again and get on track), and then I lost my job, and...well you know how it goes lol. Anyway, I wonder if eating raw would strengthen my teeth/enamel.

I wish I knew too. My friend says she finds herself doing it when she is stressed out. I have been under a lot of stress, so that could be it. I don't think I have any sort of deficiency. I've had labs done twice recently and all that stuff is in range. I do have protein in my urine and I am going to see a Dr. about a possible gallbladder problem. I do have a lot of medical problems.

[Shmoopie]

That's no fun. I have a great liver/gallbladder cleanse (only 24 hours long and won't interfere with raw) if you're interested. It pulls out TONS of gallstones and garbage that's in the liver.

[AvoMama]

Strep Mutans cause decay. Some people have more of this in their mouth than others. I didn't have a cavity until after my husband and I were together and he has a mouthful. I'm trying to reset the environment using tea tree mouthwash

On a related note, I've heard that cranial-sacral therapy helps with ginding as does EFT

[Alba]

That's no fun. I have a great liver/gallbladder cleanse (only 24 hours long and won't interfere with raw) if you're interested. It pulls out TONS of gallstones and garbage that's in the liver.

I did one of those like 1/2 year ago, but no stones came out? I am wondering which method you used - can you maybe e-mail me?
Love alba

[juliebove]

That's no fun. I have a great liver/gallbladder cleanse (only 24 hours long and won't interfere with raw) if you're interested. It pulls out TONS of gallstones and garbage that's in the liver.

I don't know that I have gallstones. Will have to wait and see what the Dr. said.

[maryonherway]

My experience has been the opposite of vgloveforlife's - I just went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago for check up and cleaning. Usually my gums bleed like crazy when they are cleaned and for years I've had pockets between some of my molars (pretty minor ones, but pockets none the less). This last visit I had NO gum bleeding and the pockets were smaller than before! The Dr said 'Oh, you must be flossing more often!' - I just smiled, since I never floss as often as I'm supposed to :rolleyes:

[PATH301]

juliebove, vgloveforlife And who ever else, as far as with grinding teeth. Have any of you tried to get a mouth piece, to wear at night? It may help :rolleyes:

[vgloveforlife]

Path-I'll keep that in mind. I just started doing it when the worry and stress in my life increased so I'm hoping when that goes away so will the clenching.

Maryonherway-Glad to hear your experience was different! I'd like to hear more positive teeth stories but I've only really heard a few.

[exurb]

Add me to the list of people whose teeth worsened on raw.

Ugh.

Everything else seems great though! And like juliebove my teeth also look whiter :D .

Before raw, many years of no cavities, everything excellent, great gums, etc.

On raw, suddenly cavities, one actually so big it required a root canal. :( And my dentist says I'm old enough that I should be past my "cavity" years. :o

I have no idea what is causing this, I think I need to cut out all sugary things, dates, dried figs and dried fruit, etc. Before raw I ate very little sugar or sugary stuff. I'm also starting to wonder about all the vinegary salad dressings. :confused: I do have top oral hygeine, using and OralB 3-D toothbrush, a Waterpik, good flossing, etc.

i love the waterpik BTW, anyone with gum issues should get one IMO.

Also BTW, I'm not knocking raw, I just am trying to sort out my newfound teeth issues, and I'm starting to think we need to take extra care of our teeth.

[ShelShel]

I was told by my dentist when I was very young that if I took good care of my teeth, I would keep them always. And he was right, I haven't had a cavity in 34 years! Two years ago, I went in for a cleaning and she was shocked at how great they looked. No problems.
Yesterday, I had to go to the dentist for this horrible throbbing in jaw...it won't open beyond squeezing my tooth brush between my teeth and man does it hurt.
He looked in my mouth and said, "Lots of cavities! You have to have two teeth pulled." :eek: I was shocked.
I have been high raw-100% raw for 9 months now and my teeth are falling apart. SO, I went right out and purchased a calcium supplement with vitamin D. I know a lot of people on this site don't like supplements and they feel if I eat certain foods, I'll be ok. But these are my teeth we are talking about. I won't keep letting this happen. It shouldn't have happened...from everything I read, I should have been getting enough from my food to keep them healthy, but obviously I wasn't. :(
I want to stay 100% raw...that is what I am and that is what I want to be. But I can't without calcium coming from somewhere. So, I'm supplementing. I hope this helps.
Anyone have any suggestions?
(And just so you know, I brush after every meal, unless I am out at dinner. I'm a stay-at-home mom and this is an option for me. ;) And always before bed! So, I'm not sure why this is happening...it's very discouraging.)

[Amberly]

What is the 24 hr liver cleanse you speak of????? I wanna try one. Today I am having blended apples only.

[Shmoopie]

I'll post it in a new thread under "Other".

[StudentforLife]

:( And my dentist says I'm old enough that I should be past my "cavity" years. :o



Your dentist said that? A person never outgrows cavities. That can be a life long occurance depending on how you take care of your teeth and diet changes. I just thought that was weird for them to say,(I used to be a dental assistent, so I've seen it all).

[konmai]

our teeth's health & going RAW is really weird to me. I'm reading such horror stories.

I've had bleeding gums due to gingivitis a few yrs. now. Every time I would brush my teeth, there would be a lot of blood. My teeth are still intact, look great, no spaces & all, but I just bleed when I brush my teeth. Since going raw, there is very little blood. I'm hoping it'll completely not be a problem any more once I'm a little more longer on RAW or maybe I'll see other problems? I'm not sure yet, but this is my experience so far.

Goodluck to ya! Our teeth is very important, & I can definitely understand the fear if they were to go bye-bye! :eek:

[VeryBerry]

I think that teeth tend to get worse on raw because of overeating acidic fruit and dried fruit which demineralizes the teeth and weakens the enamel.
I have a few sensitive teeth, a few day ago I ate some dates, and the teeth were so sensitive that I could not even brush.

The worse foods for teeth are starches they are the sole reason for plaque, now that I don't eat them my mouth feels a lot cleaner.

[vgloveforlife]

I'm thinking another reason is that raw food is harder and requires more chewing which means more food sticking in between the teeth and on the teeth. A lot of cooked food is so soft that really all you have to do is swallow and it hardly touches the teeth at all.
So maybe the key is more blended foods on raw OR just make sure to clean the mouth out after eating each meal and not constant snacking.

[ElaineB]

Yes. My dad was having pain in his teeth. The dentist wanted to do a root canal, but warned that he might still have pain. A second dentist wanted to file down the tooth and put a crown on it. He went to a gum specialist to get a second opinion about the root canal. He recommended that he try Sensidyne toothpaste before he decides to have surgery and see if it helps. (I am sure I spelled the name of the toothpaste wrong - but it is the one for sensitive teeth.)

Then, the specialist leaned over and told my dad that the main ingredient that works in the toothpaste is PICKLE JUICE. He started swishing pickle juice in his mouth and naturally eating more pickles. Since then, he has had NO pain at all. So... hooray for natural remendies!

[GreenPrince]

The throuth are out there on the net – go and find it!

This is a SERIOUS matter!

I HAVE to write this post. Some of you will be upset and some maybe angry.
But – you will thank me afterwards for saving your teeth!

You can get wonderful strong teeth on raw food – or you can destroy them.
The choice is yours. There are no 100% perfect raw food program – yet.
All is a wonderful, global raw food experiment going on.
......................

I feel real sorry for all these threads in different forums about dental problems on raw. Completely wasted time. Miles of facts about teeth decay on raw food are already written for the Internet. Go and find them! Please, google.

You can't find the truth in discussion forums. Nobody wants to be impopular by telling you the sad truth, and nobody wants to hear the truth in mainly emotionally driven support forums, with
implicit tendencies to ignore or suppress real facts not fitting in their personal raw model.

If you want to DESTROY your teeth on raw:
1.Eat only fruit, be a fruitarian, 100% if possible.
2.The best fruits are sweet and acidic, like citrus fruits and apples.
3.Blend or juice the fruits.
4.Save time, stay away from chewing.
5.Eat often.
6.Always brush your teeth with toothpaste after eating, the earlier the better.
7.Bleeding gum? Good sign, you are on track.
8.Your teeth tips are going transparent? Good sign, you are on track.
9.Your teeth are cracking? Good sign, you are on track.
10.You have succeed!

Explanation:
The acids soften the dental enamel. When you brush your teeth, the abradant in the toothpaste creates the enamel damage.
The sugar is a perfect food for teeth damaging bacteria.
Fruits ar low in minerals, this weakens the teeth, and the bacteria take the mineral from the teeth.
Bleeding means that leukocytes are transported to the local spot to fight the colony of bacteria. Minerals and other substances from the blood are also deposited for the tooth reparation.

If you want to STRENGTEN your teeth on raw:
Cut down on fruit.
Combine fruit with mineral rich food, especially greens: green smoothie every day.
Chew as much as possible, at least one real chewing meal every day. Chewing
strengthens the teeth enamel in several ways. It's fascinating knowledge.
Rinse you mouth with water after the meal.
Brush with ONLY water.
Floss your teeth.
Your salive repairs the softened enamel within one hour. The salive has a wonderful composition for an optimal and rapid reparation of the enamel softening.
Brush your teeth with a good toothpaste at bedtime.

The throuth are out there on the net – go and find it!
Keywords: raw food, raw vegan, fruitarian, enamel, tooth decay, etc.

This is my only and last post in this thread. Short of time.
I will next time focuse on a major theme:
Why ”benchmarking” is definitely vitally for the development of raw food movement.

[GreenPrince]

This is a SERIOUS matter!
I HAVE to write this post. Some of you will be upset and some maybe angry.
But – you will thank me afterwards for saving your teeth!

You can get wonderful strong teeth on raw food – or you can destroy them. The choice is yours.
There are no 100% perfect raw food program – yet.
All is a wonderful, global raw food experiment going on.
.........................
I feel real sorry for all these threads in different forums about dental problems on raw. Completely wasted time.
Miles of facts about teeth decay on raw food are already written for the Internet. Go and find them! Please, google.

You can't find the truth in discussion forums. Nobody wants to be impopular by telling you the sad truth,
and nobody wants to hear the truth in mainly emotionally driven support forums,
with implicit tendencies to ignore or suppress real facts not fitting in their personal raw model.

If you want to DESTROY your teeth on raw:
1. Eat only fruit, be a fruitarian, 100% if possible.
2. The best fruits are sweet and acidic, like citrus fruits and apples.
3. Blend or juice the fruits.
4. Save time, stay away from chewing.
5. Eat often.
6. Always brush your teeth with toothpaste after eating, the earlier the better.
7. Bleeding gum? Good sign, you are on track.
8. Your teeth tips are going transparent? Good sign, you are on track.
9. Your teeth are cracking? Good sign, you are on track.
10.You have succeed!

Explanation:
The acids soften the dental enamel. When you brush your teeth, the abradant in the toothpaste creates the enamel damage.
The sugar is a perfect food for teeth damaging bacteria.
Fruits ar low in minerals, this weakens the teeth, and the bacteria take the mineral from the teeth.

Bleeding means that leukocytes are transported to the local spot to fight the colony of bacteria.
Minerals and other substances from the blood are also deposited for the tooth reparation.

If you want to STRENGTEN your teeth on raw:
1. Cut down on fruit.
2. Combine fruit with mineral rich food, especially greens: green smoothie every day.
3. Chew as much as possible, at least one real chewing meal every day. Chewing strengthens the teeth enamel in several ways. It's fascinating knowledge.
4. Rinse you mouth with water after the meal.
5. Brush with ONLY water.
6. Floss your teeth.
7. Your salive repairs the softened enamel within one hour. The salive has a wonderful composition for an optimal and rapid reparation of the enamel softening.
8. Brush your teeth with a good toothpaste at bedtime.

The thruth is out there on the net – go and find it!
Keywords: raw food, raw vegan, fruitarian, enamel, tooth decay, etc.
.........................
This is my only and last post in this thread. Short of time.
I will next time focuse on a major theme:
Why ”benchmarking” is definitely vitally for the development of raw food movement.

[VeryBerry]

Green prince,

Thanks for the post, it makes perfect sense.
I still like to brush after meals, can anyone recommend a good mild toothpaste?

[exurb]

Thanks everyone, I am glad we are talking honestly here of our experiences, because it must be possible to solve the teeth issue and enjoy the other benefits.

I am also starting to wonder (because I had to count my calcium for a while due to broken bones twice) if lowered calcium is contributing, and we need to be more aware to get sufficient calcium intake. Also remember to keep your sunshine up for your vitamin D so you can absorb the calcium. And magnesium is apparently important too in ratio to the calcium, you can do epsom salts in your bath if you can't take enough in in your diet.

ShelShel, thanks for posting your story, it is similar to mine, so I appreciate reading your story.

GreenPrince, you raise the point that we must also look elsewhere for information. This is a "support"-oriented site where discussion of any negatives are strongly discouraged and enforced. That is great for support, but I think it is also important to our health to watch out for potential pitfalls so we can avoid them, and you can go elsewhere and find that info on various subjects, issues, and potential problems to avoid, to optimize your health if raw.

[VeryBerry]

I agree.

I think it is important to discuss any issue that we may be having and find ways to solve any problems that may arrise on raw.

We can't pretend that beeing raw will automatically solve all health problems and demand that everyone be supportive, instead of beeing truthful.

[vgloveforlife]

Greenprince,
What do you think is a good toothpaste?

[ShelShel]

Green Prince, I wish I had read some of these sites before starting raw! :rolleyes: I would have done a few things to protect my teeth better. It just never occured to me that the fruit would weaken my enamel. We are taught as children to eat a piece of fruit, it's healthy. And although it is great for the body...not so good for our enamel. :eek: Wow. Thanks for the insight.

[LeanAndHungry]

So if you cut down on fruit, what else is there? I like the simplicity of fruit. I don't want to have to use any of those fancy kitchen utensils to make a meal.

[luckitri]

Well common sense can go a long way. My teeth so far are much better on raw but after a week of trying to make smoothies and juices my gums were telling me that they needed the chewing exercise and my bowels are better when I chew my food.

Acidity in fruit - your store-bought fruit juices have much higher concentrations of enamel eating acids.....especially the citrus. It has long been known that eating the fruit fresh will damage your teeth the least.

GreenPrince has given us much useful information and I even agree about the not brushing so much on raw - that your saliva will repair the enamel makes sense.

Calcium sources and absorption seem to be the key here. Having battled osteoporosis I am not really interested in calcium supplements. I don't know the medical term but the excess unused calcium can concentrate in your tissues and then you have painful lumps that don't go away. Mine are not so painful on raw and maybe my body will decide to use the calcium - wouldn't that be nice?!

We are supporting each other as well as creating a very rich data bank for all. Efficiency in mining information recorded by those who came before us is something that I need help with.

[GreenPrince]

Greenprince,
What do you think is a good toothpaste?Saliva is number 1. :)

Well, my belief is that a good commercial toothpaste is adapted to the need of the individual,
depending on our age, type of food, genetical strength, early mineralization;
starts around birth(?) and status of our teeth.

The market obviously doesn't share my view. :cool:
Instead of 20 different sorts of toothpaste from a few manufacturers,
we have a few sorts from 20 manufacturers. In fact, all market dominating toothpastes
are very similar with only small differences. They are copying one another.

If you ask me what I would exclude from a toothpaste, my answer is:
all more or less bizarre substances, like lauryl sulphate, propylene glycol, sorbitol, saccharin,
metylparaben, benzoates, metal oxides, aroma, colours...

The best toothpaste is your saliva with its wonderful content of enzymes and electrolytes,
a perfect formula developed during millions of years. When we eat sour citrus fruits, for example,
the tooth enamel is softened; calcium and phosphate are released at a pH belove 5.5.
The saliva rinses the teeth, the electrolytes (bicarbonate mainly) are a buffer and increase the pH
within half an hour or so: a remineralization then starts and the crystals of the enamel repair themselves,
the surface detriments.
My suggestion is, always brush your teeth after a meal. In most cases, it is not necessary to use toothpaste,
especially not on raw food, and never after an acid fruit meal. In that fruit case, rinse with water,
brush with water and your saliva. Most people don't brush their teeth after every meal. On the contrary, it's unusually.
At those moments start water brushing to get the experience.

If you need or think you need fluor, you can always buy a sodium fluoride solution and rinse your teeth daily.
I guess 0.025% or 0,05% is what they recommend. That will give the same effect as fluoridated toothpaste.
Fluor hinders the demineralization and reminarilaze the dental enamel. Of course the best to do is to combine
the fluoride solution with calcium. They will discover this in the future.

Much of this may sounds as a weird opinion. It isn't, I am just way ahead of the times.;)

[vgloveforlife]

Thanks Greenprince!
I have started to brush lightly with water and floss after every meal (I use toothpaste at night). This has really helped so far. My gums have completely stopped bleeding.