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This article is going to be devoted to sharing with you how to prevent cavities using diet, nutrition and modern “biohacks” that will hopefully keep you out of the dentists chair!
There comes a time in life when the dentist tells you that you have 4 new cavities and you walk away thinking “How did this happen to me?“.
When I was 100% raw vegan from 2003 to 2010 my oral health took a real hit. I think it took me a long time to come back from what that did to my mineral reserves.
Most recovering vegans have similar stories to mine. For 7 years I ate nothing but uncooked plants. I’d go to the dentist and he’d tell me I have 5 cavities. I couldn’t figure out why.
The last time I went to my dentist I vowed to never ever get a cavity again. I’m at the point now where I’m determined to never get cavities ever again. I’m all about prevention now.
In 2010 Dr. Stuart Nunnally removed 6 mercury amalgam fillings that were slowly poisoning me. The next time I went to their office, they removed 2 root canals and fixed for cavitations I had when I had my wisdom teeth removed in 2000 before I knew better. You can listen to one of our radio shows with him Dr. Nunnally here.
My mouth was an absolute mess.
I’m doing much better now and I want to share with you how to prevent cavities and more specifically what I’m doing these days to create a healthy oral microbiome.
What Are Cavities
Everybody knows what cavities are but in case you don’t, essentially they’re known as dental caries. They’re a form of tooth decay that occurs when acids produced by bacteria in the mouth break down the hard outer layer of the tooth, called enamel. This process typically results from eating sugary foods, which feed the bacteria, leading to the formation of plaque that sticks to your teeth and create acids that erode your tooth structure.
Foods To Avoid
This is a big one because in my research, the foods that cause cavities are those that either…
- Stick to your teeth (mentioned above)
- Alter serum phosphorous levels
Most of the time the same foods that stick to your teeth, also alter your serum phosphorus levels.
So let’s talk about that.
Here’s a quote by the late great Dr. Hal Huggins about phosphorus and cavities….
“..in the blood chemistry, there are things that are not really terribly new. But they’re certainly not taught in dental schools, even the dental school where it was discovered. But if you have looking at the serum phosphorus level, for instance, if the serum phosphorus level is below 3.5, you have dental decay.
“If it is above 3.5, you don’t have dental decay. Well, what makes that happen? If you’re eating the right amount of protein in your diet, the serum phosphorus will be above 3.5. If you’re eating less protein than you need, it will be less than 3.5. Well, what happens at 3.5? Why is this such a magical figure? There is a fluid that flows from the pulp chamber of the tube through the dentin, through the enamel, into the mouth. It’s a derivative of the blood stream.”
“But, this fluid flows up through the tube in people who have no decay. It’s kind of a self-cleansing action. But, when the phosphorus drops below 3.5, which is an endocrine function — one of the hormone-producing glands controls it — then, when the phosphorus drops below, the tooth turns into kind of a suction machine and it draws debris and bacteria from the mouth through the enamel, through the dentin, into the pulp chamber, creating decay and occasionally even killing the tooth.”
“So, if we can control the phosphorus, we can control the tendency to dental decay or the tendency to resist it. But, where the problem came in was that when you drop below 3.5, you become susceptible not just to dental decay, but to all diseases. And if you’re above 3.5, it’s going to be a whole lot harder to catch a disease.”
Here’s a quote from a study that sheds a little more light on this topic that you might find interesting.
Importantly, the calcium and phosphorus inherent in dairy foods, such as cheese and milk, help protect teeth against demineralisation by preventing the pH in the mouth from falling below 5.5, thereby reducing the risk of dental decay [90,92]. Additionally, there is an inverse association between the consumption of milk and dairy foods and the prevalence of periodontitis in the adult population [93]. While the exact mechanism behind this association has not yet been revealed yet, researchers postulate that lactic acid in fermented dairy products inhibits the growth of periodontal pathogens by decreasing oral pH.
Maybe this explains the people that although they don’t brush their teeth that well or have good oral hygiene, they never seem to get cavities.
Here’s a list of food types that you want to be really careful about eating if you want to prevent cavities from forming…
- Refined sugar
- Refined carbohydrates
- Sugary foods that create an acidic environment
- Foods and liquid substances that wash out calcium from teeth and bones, such as Coca-Cola
Essentially that list wipes out 99% of the foods in our standard American diet.
Foods To Add In
Not eating the foods that cause cavities is just one half of the battle. Now you need to consume the foods that are going to heal your teeth and remineralize them. This is how to prevent cavities.
Here are the foods you’re going to want to start working into your diet. And the diet I recommend is the same diet that Dr. Weston A Price recommended in his book called Nutrition and Physical Degeneration as well as the late Ramiel Nagel in his book Cure Tooth Decay (minus the fermented cod liver oil of course).
Those foods would be…
- Dairy Products: High in calcium, which is crucial for dental health. Milk, cheese, and other dairy products help to strengthen teeth and bones.
- Seafoods and Organ Meats: Rich in minerals and vitamins, especially fat-soluble vitamins which are essential for tooth enamel and overall dental health.
- Vegetables: A good source of vitamins and minerals; should be consumed regularly. Especially leafy greens which offer calcium and phosphorus.
- Animal Organs: High in essential nutrients that contribute to dental health.
Once I started incorporating more animal foods into my diet, I noticed my teeth getting stronger and more resilient. I also noticed it was easier to prevent cavities than when I was on a strict raw vegan diet.
It seemed like when I was a raw vegan, I could take care of my teeth perfectly and I’d still have cavities. No matter what I did, floss or not, water pick or not I still had cavities.
The problem was that I wasn’t nourishing them from the inside out.
When I stopped eating raw vegan, I adopted a paleo style diet. I then switched to a more balanced approach. Over the years I’ve considered ancestral diets, I tried the ketogenic diet and a few others.
However a diet that I think is intriguing (but I’m not attracted to) is the Primal diet which was mostly promulgated by Aajonus Vonderplanitz.
Another diet I haven’t really played with is the Mediterranean Diet. The diet you follow doesn’t matter as much as NOT following a raw vegan diet.
You can always supplement with key nutrients to make sure you’re getting the building blocks of what you need to remineralize teeth and prevent cavities.
Key Supplements
Supplements are necessary in today’s world for a lot of different reasons. The main reason is the depletion of minerals in our soils since the 1930s. You add to that acid rain, NPK fertilizers along with what they’re spraying in our skies and the pollution in today’s modern world and you have a recipe for not getting enough nutrition from our modern food supply.
With that said, if you’re over the age of 60, most likely you’re not producing enough hydrochloric acid in order to break down your food. HCL is a foundational supplement because without it, not only are you not producing intrinsic factor which helps absorb vitamin B12 but you’re also not able to assimilate any other supplement you’re taking.
As well as HCL here’s some more supplements that are helpful for creating strong teeth that help prevent cavities…
Notice how I didn’t recommend calcium? That’s because you can easily get enough of that from dairy products and food.
In terms of supplements, that’s how to prevent cavities. If you take the supplements as well as avoiding foods that cause cavities you’re light years ahead of the average person. If you adopt a more ancestral diet with healthy animal fats and fat soluble vitamins like A, E, D and K you’re going to be improving your dental health a ton.
You don’t need those supplements if you’re now following a diet that isn’t SAD and includes the animal foods listed above. But those supplements will help speed the process of remineralization of your teeth.
Oral Care Tips
Toothpicks
The last time I was visiting Dr. Stuart Nunnally he mentioned an “old trick” that he said “the old timers” in Texas do, which was using a toothpick. It’s such a simple thing and not something you’d ever consider. He mentioned that the people who used toothpicks regularly never had any cavities.
He said it helped to physically remove any plaque off their teeth. Ever since he mentioned it casually to me, I’ve been using a toothpick after each meal.
Here are some other oral care tips that I do daily now.
No Snacking
I used to be a huge snacker. The problem with that is that if you snack multiple times per day, you never really clean the plaque off your teeth. Now I eat 3 meals per day with no food in between.
Mouth Tape
There are a ton of benefits from sleeping with your mouth closed. This article is about how to prevent cavities so from a dental perspective, mouth taping allows you to keep saliva on your teeth while you sleep. Your mouth never dries out. Keeping your saliva on your teeth helps to fight bacteria overgrowth from happening for 8 or more hours per night. We did a radio show about this a few years ago that you might find interesting.
Ozone Rinse
I have an ozone machine that sits on my countertop that doesn’t require oxygen like the more advanced models. I use those for other purposes. This machine is really just for water and I use it to rinse my mouth out with ozone water after brushing right before bed. To listen to a radio show about the more advanced models of ozone machines you can click here.
Water Pic
For years Dr. Nunnally tried to get me to use a water pic but I never did, and I kept getting cavities. What’s cool about water pick is that you can put things in there other than water. Sometimes I’ll add some water soluble oregano oil, or I’ll use some silver as well. I’ve noticed much healthier teeth from having used it every day since we last saw him.
Tooth Brush
I’ve tried many types of tooth brushes to prevent cavities. I started with Dr. Tung’s Ionic Toothbrush and I’ve finally landed on the Sonic Care toothbrush. You can’t go wrong with either of them in my opinion.
Toothpaste
Toothpaste is a big one. There are a lot of options and I’ve tried many of them. The one I’ve been using lately has xylitol in it which has been shown to prevent cavities. Sometimes when I run out of that, I’ll buy a tube of Dr. Jen’s that has nano hydroxyapatite in it. I usually will go back and forth between these two kinds.
Oil Pulling
I’ve been really focused on doing oil pulling daily since I last was at the dentist. I need to do an entire article about the benefits of oil pulling. Essentially it’s an Ayervedic practice where you put a tablespoon of coconut oil or sesame seed oil in your mouth and swish for a minimum of 20 minutes. I usually brush my teeth, floss and use the water pik. Then when I’m taking a shower at night before bed, that’s when I’ll use this special ozonated olive oil.
Ozone Mouthguard
This is an interesting little piece of equipment. You will need to have an ozone generator to use this but it is a very powerful way to keep the bacteria down in your mouth. If you have the expenses to invest in an ozone generator I would highly recommend adding this onto your purchase.
Tongue Scraper
I first got onto tongue scraping back in my raw vegan days when I didn’t care much about preventing cavities as I do now. My thought back then was that since I was on a raw vegan diet, I didn’t have to tongue scrape or take care of my oral health that much. Man was I ever wrong.
This literally take 5 seconds to do and it’s a great thing to do before bed. I generally do it before I brush my teeth. Here’s the one I use.
Mouth Wash
After I’m done with flossing, using the water pik, brushing and swishing with ozonated water, the final thing I’ll do after my shower is rinse my mouth out with a xylitol mouth wash. This leaves my mouth clean and mineralized all night long while I’m sleeping.
Red Light Therapy
This is something I’ve been doing for a few months now. Generally I do red light therapy during the daytime so after breakfast or after lunch seems to work out perfect for my schedule. I have to make sure I’m not taking phone calls or the kids don’t need me because I can’t talk with it in. It’s a bit early for me to tell if anything is working as a result but I’ve read plenty of studies on red light therapy to know that it is helping.
I just consider this to be part of my daily oral health maintenance, just like going to bed early or blocking blue light. It’s just built into my routine now and something I’ll do forever.
Conclusion
Those are most of all the things I do to prevent cavities. The biggest one is following a healthy diet that includes animal foods, organ meats and diary products on a daily basis. You don’t have to do all these things to prevent cavities but once you get the devices, using them takes not much additional time.
You’ll just have to figure out based on your schedule the order in which to do them that works for you.
I go into much more detail in my oral health protocol. In there I cover…
- How each tooth is connected to specific organs
- How to tackle gum disease & receding gums
- More foods that nourish your gums and teeth
- Blotting instead of brushing
- How to blot your teeth
- How to deal with toothaches & sensitive teeth
- My exact nighttime dental routine
- More resources for dental health
- Books, documentaries and videos
- Companies devoted to oral health that I recommend
- and more
Questions:
- Do you have cavities now?
- What’s your oral routine look like?
- What were your teeth like when you were on a vegan or vegetarian diet?
Comment below.
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