Natural Dental Care

Two weeks ago, at a dentist's office in Springfield, life's comfy rug was yanked out from under my feet. There I was, totally off kilter, listening to a woman with tiny torture tools tell me that my toddler son had multiple cavities. MY son. The boy who eats organic sprouted grain bread and has never tasted a sip of soda. As the dentist fired off a list of possible causes for his tooth trouble, the pit in my stomach reminded me that this was yet another lesson in humility. Maybe I had fed him too many homemade desserts. Maybe I hadn't brushed his teeth often enough. And flossing? Well, I think I did it once, just because he thought it looked like fun. Who knows what went wrong, or if I could have prevented the problem at all. The only thing I can say for sure is that fretting over what I might have done wrong doesn't matter nearly as much as finding out what I can try to do right from now on. So, I've been researching dental care — natural, of course — and I thought you might be interested in some tidbits I found.

Wait to Brush
After eating, our mouths experience a drop in pH (which means they become more acidic), and our tooth enamel softens. So, it's best NOT to brush teeth for about an hour after eating to avoid damaging our enamel.

Brush at Bedtime
If you can only brush once daily, the best time is when you go to bed.
Native “Toothpaste”
Strawberries have long been used to clean and whiten teeth. Cut a fresh strawberry in half and rub your teeth and gums with it. Leave on for 15 minutes, then add some warm water and gently brush. This supposedly promotes clean, white teeth and healthy gums.

Fresh Fluoride
Chewing fresh parsley, coriander, or mint leaves gives teeth a natural, food-based fluoride treatment as well as disinfecting the mouth and sweetening the breath. Fluoride hardens the outer surface of the teeth, but the form of fluoride in toothpastes and city drinking water has questionable effects on health, and too much fluoride is toxic.

Clean Your Toothbrush
Rinse your toothbrush in salt water to disinfect it.

Forgo the Fizz
The acid in fizzy drinks, even diet varieties, may contribute to enamel erosion that can weaken teeth.

Food for Thought
According to Ramiel Nagel, author of the book “Cure Tooth Decay, “When our blood chemistry is out of balance, primarily from the consumption of processed foods (especially sugars), the ratio of calcium and phosphorus in our blood deviates from normal. When this happens, minerals are pulled from the bones causing tooth and other bone loss. So, sugar causes tooth decay because it depletes nutrients from the body, not because bacteria eat it and produce acid. In order to restore the ratio of calcium and phosphorus in our blood, and to enable minerals to bond with our teeth, it is usually not sufficient just to avoid eating too much sweet or processed foods. One must also eat health building foods, containing potent amounts of minerals and vitamins to create a chain reaction that will build glassy hard tooth structure in place of decayed tooth structure.”