Tooth and Gum Troubles

[asil]

My teeth are feeling loose and one area of my gums is really sore. I also saw a bit of blood when I brushed last night. what the heck is going on? I'm a fiend for dental hygene -- brush and floss after every meal with a soft tooth brush. I've had healthy teeth and gums all my life (I'm 42). I have been eating boatloads of sweet fruits, and dried fruits, for the last month or so, though. I also put lemon and lime juice in every single salad I make, which is usually 2X a day. I have a green smoothie every AM.

Anyone had any luck clearing this problem up? I've never had bleeding gums before, ever! So I'm really freaking out.

I decided to radically reduce sweet fruits but that was just a few days ago. Do I need to give up lemon/lime on salads? Then what do I dress a salad with?

A few months ago I started using castille soap as a toothpaste, based on some raw foodist advice. Before I had used an ayurvedic paste for a year or so, and before that, plain old Crest. Should I go back to commercial toothpaste?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[flutterfly]

You will notice a big difference if you cut way down on the dried fruit.

[Revvell]

I agree w/ flutterfly on the dried fruit. IF you are going to eat it, make sure you soak and re-hydrate ~ and rinse your mouth out after.

One thing you might consider is ~ after brushing, put one drop of GSE (grapefruit seed extract) into about an ounce of water. Swish thoroughly and spit.


:cool:

[spockafina]

Like Flutterfly and Revvell suggested, cut down on the dried fruit. It's very sticky and will stick between your teeth. Always have a glass of water while you eat to sip adn swish around your mouth while eating - especially when eating sweet fruits and acidic fruits.

Another thing - after eating acidic foods (like the lemon & lime juice you mentioned), don't brush for at least an hour - the acid remains on your teeth for that period of time, adn brushing immediately afterwards will damage the enamel.


Ciao

[sweetgoddess]

And rinsing your mouth with water after eating acidic fruits will help also.
I was just reading Eating for Beauty by David Wolfe and regarding teeth here is what he says.

"The deficiency of alkaline elements ( magnesium, iron and silicon) found in rich green foods, plays a major role in tooth decay as does the intake of refined carbohydrates and sugars, and overly eating natural fruit sugars.

Of all natural foods, chewing on wild grasses has the most remarkable teeth strengthening qualities. I like to eat fibrous vegetables, such as celery, after eating sweet fruit. Fibrous vegetables clean and naturally brush teeth.

MSM helps drive more nutrients into the teeth. Sulfur helps build strong enamel.

I use GumJoy Oil ( an anti-inflammatory, cold-pressed oil blend containing mostly hemp and mint oils) I also sprinkle Celtic Sea Salt on my toothbrush before I brush. This creates an alkaline environment in the mouth that prevents harmful bacteria from growing. It isbeneficial to gargle with Celtic Sea Salt diluted in water.

I often rub coconut oil directly on my gums and teeth before I go to bed. Coconut oil's antiseptic qualities destroy bacteria that contribute to tooth decay.

Silicon Rich Foods ( for strong bones and teeth)

Hemp, horsetail, nettles, mature blades of grass ( found often in Superfood powders), radish, nopal cactus, romaine lettuce, marjoram, new zealand spinach, burdock root, cucumber skin, bell pepper skin, tomato skin, young green plants, oats"

~Taken from Eating for Beauty by David Wolfe

I hope something here helps you asil.
My Best wishes ~

[asil]

Thanks for the advice, all!

That does it -- I'm finished with dried fruit, at least for a good while. I don't think it's really as good for you as fresh anyway, it's just a convenient way to bring lunch or snacks to work and on long shopping/errand days. I'm going to implement a bunch of those ideas you all had.

As to GSE: It will be a few days before I can make the long treck into Austin to pick some up. Meanwhile, I have grapefruit essential oil on hand. Do you think that will help? What about tea tree oil? Clove oil? hydrogen peroxide?

I might buy a water pic too.

Thanks Sweetgoddess for all that stuff from EFB. I'm off right now to gargle w/Celtic salt and rub coco oil on my gums!

[Revvell]

Of those you mentioned, I would use tea tree oil. I've also used hydrogen peroxide mixed w/ salt on my brush. To me, clove oil is more for pain.

When using GSE be sure to dilute it. I've tried it directly on my gums thinking saliva was a good diluter...wrong ~ burned for about 2 days. The reason I prefer GSE is, it's an anti-bacterial, it tightens the gums and no side effects.


As to GSE: It will be a few days before I can make the long treck into Austin to pick some up. Meanwhile, I have grapefruit essential oil on hand. Do you think that will help? What about tea tree oil? Clove oil? hydrogen peroxide?


:cool:

[sweetgoddess]

You are very welcome. Please let us know how it goes for you!

Blessings~

[swiddweas]

I know you're not going to want to hear this, but if after all the above mentioned has been tried, I would not hesitate to get to the Dentist for a check up. My Friend had similar problems, it cleared up on it's own, only to return with a huge abcess later on in the year. Sadly, she lost most of her teeth. I am not saying you will have the same fate. Just please don't take any chances!

Swiddweas

[Gosia]

my advice is: make sure that you eat plenty of greens (a big bunch at least, daily), plenty of sweet fruit (you need the energy) plenty of fuicy fruit (you need the water, not enough water could make one's gums sick, water is essential for healthy gums) AND avoid dried fruit. Also, a very important aspect of eating fruit is to make sure that you only eat ripe fruit. Un-ripe fruit is too acidic and will draw calcium from your teeth and bones. Lemons and limes must be ripe too.

I had gums problems before raw. Going raw (eating plenty of sweet, juicy fruit and greens) helped my gums get better, my hygienist noticed that!

All the best,
Gosia.

[truthseeker]

asil,

Here's a few tid bits from the book "Good Teeth Birth To Death" by Dr. Gerard Judd:

What are some of the acids to watch out for when it comes to dissolving phosphate out of the teeth?

Perhaps the most damaging solid we eat is rhubarb, which contains quite strong oxalic acid. Another fairly stron acid is phosphoric, which is added to certain fruit juice drinks. Lemon juice, vitamin C and acetic acid (vinegar) are next in line.

Eating chewable vitamin C is unwise, inasmuch as both the sugar and the vitamin C (ascorbic acid) will dissolve the teeth. The rate of dissolution of teeth by acids is directly related to the strength of the acid, which in turn is determined by pH.

The answer as to protecting tooth enamel is simple: limit the time the acid can contact the teeth. Eat and or drink and then rinse out themouth with water asap.

Dental journals recently recorded that there was a great increase in gum pockets, places where the gums have severed from the teeth. Fluoride ruins connective tissue in all parts of the body by breaking the hydrogen bonds. In other words, the protein structure of the gum is compromised by fluoride.

Scurvy, the serious form of connective tissue disease, is caused by the lack of vitamin C necessary to convert proline into hydroxyproline, an amino acid essential to the formation of connective tissue. Therefore, by taking Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) or even better, sodium or calcium ascorbate daily, this malady can be overcome.

Connective tissue of the teeth, back, neck, veins, arteries and achilles tendon is made stronger by vitamin C.

Simply stated, fluoride detaches the gum tissue and vitamin C reattaches it.

Why do I use bar soap for burshing and find it superior to toothpaste?

This may be the hardes advice of all to take beacuse it is mexed up with a faddist tradition that young children have bad words washed out ot their mouth with it. Bar soap is not bad tasting when used in a SMALL amount to brush teeth. Soap is made from sodium hydroxide. It is an excellent detergent , mixing insoluable oils on the tongue, inner cheek and teeth with the water and rinsing it away. Many germs are killed by its wetting ability. Teeth wich are cleaned by bar soap and rinsed are far cleaner than those cleaned with toothpaste which includes sugar, acid, chalk, silicates (sand), soap, fluoride, methyl benzoate, dyes, stabilizers, mixing agents and other contaminating chemicals. The soap-cleaned crystal will enamelize better and build more perfectly. It is a given in making crystals in the laboratory that the solution they are made from must be free of all undesirable impurities, to get the beautiful perfect facets.



Toothpaste also contains glycerin which coats the teeth and prevents remineralization. A person would have to rinse their teeth about 25 to 30 times to get the glycerin off of their teeth. With soap one only has to rinse about 3 times.


Hope this is informative for you.

[Revvell]

Truthseeker,

Thanks for the info. I've not used flouride since leaving mom's house many years ago yet, my gums have pulled away due to a bad overbite. Good to know about the vit. c. Maybe that's what's cleared up the abcess also. (yeah! No root canal!!!!).

:cool:

[swiddweas]

We don't have floride as we use a well. SO, we rinse with a floride rinse. Nothing fancy, just make sure you're getting the flouride your teeth need.

Drink enough water and take alot of vit C in natural forms like lemons, oranges, grapefruit, ect. This does wonders.

[Revvell]

We don't have floride as we use a well. SO, we rinse with a floride rinse. Nothing fancy, just make sure you're getting the flouride your teeth need.



Flouride is a serious poison. I would not recommend it to anyone. I've healed an abscess and gum problems w/out EVER using flouride.

http://www.mbschachter.com/dangers_of_fluoride_and_fluorida.htm
http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/fluoride.htm
http://www.nofluoride.com/
http://www.nofluoride.com/legal.htm
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/fluoride.htm
http://www.ghchealth.com/where-the-yellow-went.html

[swiddweas]

Revvell, You're wrong there. Floride is a natural mineral that the body needs. You aren't a Dentist, are you? Please abstain from critizing others ideas then.

[Revvell]

Quite welcome swid.

I was at a vegetarian dining club dinner when I'd heard about it as the gov't is trying to get it into the LA water system (may have since then ~ don't know), so did some reading on it. Personally, I don't put drugs into me.

The dentist wanted to anesthetize my gums for a deep cleaning/scaling last week. I asked her why. She said "for your comfort". I said, "maybe for yours". As I have fewer problems with my uppers than lowers, suggested she do those first, w/out anesthesia. She did. I'm basically sitting there saying ~ "so, that's it?" People might wish to consider that doctors AND dentists are drug/surgery-trained. It's what they know ~ it's how they make their $$$. IF more people would do more natural things and upgrade their own health, less $$$ for doctors/dentists. I really don't think they need to concern themselves. There's more than enough patients to go around.

:cool:

[theresaann]

It doesn't much matter what you do to the surface of the teeth if the body is being de-mineralized. There's only so many times a day you can "brush your teeth". way better is to remineralize the body with TONS of greens and a good mineral supplement, and create a more alkaline pH in the body-which means less fruit, more greens. And less nuts and oils.

a REALLY good, very well absorbed liquid mineral supplement I've found is called "Cell Ready Minerals" made by Eniva corp. (www.eniva.com). They also have monoatomic minerals, one-mineral-only supplements, if people need those too. It's good stuff.

I make a green smoothie and add these minerals-let me tell you, everything is right in the world after I drink that!!

[Jackie1995]

I agree with Theresaann about adding mineral supplements - only because I'm pretty sure that the veggies/fruits I eat have been sitting so long on their journey to my supermarket that by the time I get to them, they've lost a lot of goodness.

For example, spinach loses more than 1/2 it's vitamins only 4 days after being picked. Well, that takes all the fun out of spinach for me. No close markets here, and "sell by" dates are usually 7 days after they are put out on the shelves. Who knows when they were picked?

Also: red delicious apples have been modified to last a LONG time in warehouses, check this out: UP TO ONE YEAR! Maybe stuff is still alive in there, but hey, I wouldn't bet too much on it.

Needless to say, I believe that vitamins are not utilized well without a strong base of minerals in our bodies.

I take Great Life Solutions products, each of which are formulated with humic shale minerals (77 of them). I also use Himalayan salt (no, I'm not really a salt person, but I've started adding this stuff to my diet daily) which contains 84 minerals.

I figure, no harm done, and I sure feel great, so I'll keep doing this small thing to help my body out as best I can.

I just want to keep having fun, and I can't do that if I'm not healthy!
Jackie

[pizda]

Jackie, Theresa, Thanks for the great suggestions. I have started brushing with baking soda. Deteriating teeth is my big issue now. I am in dentist office every other week putting one crown after another.
Michael

[asil]

Just a check in:

The bleeding and soreness went away within a day. I started rinsing w/water and sea salt, using a softer tooth brush (with soap, as I have for a while now), and bought a water pic (that thing rocks!). This is in addition to my usual brushing/flossing routine. I already eat tons of greens (my favorite food, actually) so I don't see how I can add more. And I did stop eating dried fruits, lowered the amount of sweet and acidic fruits. I take a living multi, but I'll look into another mineral supplement, maybe.

Thanks again for all the advice!

[sweetgoddess]

Thanks for updating us, and I am so glad you have had some improvement. :)

Warmly~

[Arky]

Just noticed this thread and thought I'd 'tally' it with another similar thread, here:

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=58237

...so people can read more thoroughly on the topic, should it interest them.

There are some great posts in -this- thread, already, though (notably, Sweetgoddess and Truthseeker ;)). One thing I would point out, however, is that although it is a positive thing to ensure good mineral consumption, where teeth are concerned, there is evidence to suggest that general mineral levels in the body are not as influential on dental health as one might imagine. More influential is the presence of minerals specifically within the localised area of the mouth. What this means is that where dental health is the focus of concern, one should seek to allow mineral-rich foods to linger a while in the mouth, and to mix thoroughly with the saliva, rather than simply swallowing them after a couple of chews and expecting the body to shepherd those minerals back up to the teeth after assimilation in the digestive tract. This allows the bio-available minerals to properly come into contact with the microstructures of the teeth and to nourish them. Of course, this serendipitously tallies with the widely-acknowledged wisdom to chew thoroughly and allow foods to mix with saliva, from an enzyme/digestion standpoint. Therefore, David Wolfe's advice to chew wild grasses is very astute, not only for the fact that they are mineral-rich, but also for the fact that their relative indigestibility encourages one to chew as the primary aim, since swallowing is not on the agenda, as it would be with more-digestible foods. Two other excellent mineral-rich greens are Lambsquarters and dandelions (although the latter are, admittedly, very bitter and thus not for the faint-hearted).

Another couple of links that may interest you, on this topic are included within the above-linked thread.


J.

[Arky]

Some more links to related threads on this board, since dental health is (unsurprisingly, amongst us fruit addicts!) a hot topic at the moment:

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5127

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=58245

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5221

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5102


Also, try searching for 'flouride' and 'flouridation'

I'm indebted to Truthseeker for so generously providing detailed and useful info in many of these teeth-related threads.


HTH,

J.

[ReneeSC]

I'd been asked ( now I have to search for it again, sorry) on if a raw diet correct my gum loss.

For ME - the answer is: NO.

It's NO because I wasn't on a raw food diet at all - in fact, was completely SAD, to be sure.

I know the dentist agreed with me about the electric toothbrush helping, and the intermittent use of flossing ( I now floss much more - after having to go through a few thousand dollars worth of reconstruction because I'd not done it - and for MY teeth, it's been necessary ).

I know she'd agree that DIET COULD work - but for me... it wasn't an option in the list of the reasons why.

So, besides the accelerated brushing - what worked?

All else I did was pray ..

My husband has said that he thinks sodium bicarbonate ( baking soda to us State'rs ) would be a better option for us.

I'll work my way up to soap - whichever soap we find that we know isn't nasty. :)