Many people with good oral hygiene suffer from cavities. You go to the dentist, and they tell you that you need to brush or floss better. You go back, brush after lunch, use mouthwash, floss twice a day, and still the cavities come.
What your dentist never discusses with you is the roll of diet and re-mineralization of your protective layer of enamel, that can ensure you remain free of dental cavities for life.
Key to the whole understanding is the roll of enamel in protecting our teeth from the harmful dental bacteria such as Streptoccocus Mutans, which live in the plaque and produce acid which eats into the enamel causing cavities.
Our tooth enamel is made of up 96% minerals and is the strongest substance in the human body. It’s great for chewing and high impact, but the high mineral content can be leeched out of the enamel through poor diet and acidic environments. Once it is lost the enamel does not re-grow. If you are thinking – my diet is fine – it’s almost certainly not fine for optimum dental and bone health. Even if you exclusively shop at whole food stores and eat organic food and have a diet that is better than 99% of the population, you can still de-mineralize easily from eating the wrong foods in the wrong way.
Enamel can be strengthened by a process called remineralization – which is basically adding minerals to the enamel matrix through the saliva. Enamel is weakened by de-mineralization – which is the stripping of minerals from the enamel. Your enamel is in a state of constant flux between the two states of mineralization and de-mineralization. When the acids begin to dissolve mineral more quickly than your saliva can replace it you get a cavity.
In order to reverse this process you need to do avoid the foods and processes that de-mineralize the teeth, and increase the foods and processes that re-mineralize the teeth. It’s tricky to do this, because if you don’t avoid the de-mineralization you won’t balance out the re-mineralization. It would be like pouring water into a leaky bucket.
You have to do both.
Acidic foods and acid from bacteria slowly dissolve some of the minerals out of your enamel everyday. But those minerals are quickly replaced by minerals and enzymes in your saliva. When the acids begin to dissolve mineral more quickly than your saliva can replace it you get a cavity. Remineralization is a microscopic process. We are talking about small amounts of minerals every day. However, add acidic conditions and lots of dental bacteria, and the onset of cavities can be quite quick.
Teeth re-mineralize through saliva. Anyone wishing to re-mineralize their teeth needs to ensure that their teeth are really clean and can remineralize. One of the problems with re-mineralization is actually our toothpaste. Many commercial pastes use glycerin as a filler which coats the teeth. Best to look for natural toothpastes without gylcerin, or use tooth soaps, or baking soda. You also need to encourage saliva production and keep the mouth moist – oil pulling is great at keeping the mouth clean and really working out the salivary glands. Avoid anything that dries the mouth – smoking, alcohol etc.
Once your teeth are clean next step is to avoid soda’s, as many processed foods as possible, including all flour, sugars, refined products.You also need to avoid cereals and breads that have not been sprouted or soaked. They release phytic acid which blocks mineral absorption in the body.
Finally, once you remove the processed foods and add foods that are high in Vitamin K2, Vitamin C and Vitamin D, in your diet you will start to feel your teeth becoming less sensitive as you strengthen the enamel layer.
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Source by Derridian Arod Jones
