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08/02/2007
Teeth 2 (the return of the teeth)
After my recent five-filling marathon at the dentist I decided that whatever modern dentistry had to offer, it wasn't enough for me. I followed some of the links Ran posted after his recent visit to a dentist and here's what I have learned. Some of this is from a retired chemist at this site. I include the link because it wasn't directly included in Ran's selection. In order to really review his ideas I would need to read his book which I haven't done but I do think there is a lot of merit in listening to people from other fields.
1. It's not bacteria that eat into our teeth, it's acid. It is often however the bacteria that produce the acid (by fermenting glucose) when they consume the food we put in our mouth. Apparently this is basic chemistry: The proton on the acid pulls the phosphate out of the enamel and fast, if you sip water is reacts with the acid to form a hydronium ion and saves the enamel.
2. Some food are naturally acidic, like citrus fruit and tomatoes. This makes sense to me, sometimes after drinking orange juice it actually feels like a layer has been stripped from my teeth.
3. The acid does it's stuff for only a short period which is why dentists say not to eat between meals, so that your teeth are free of acid for long periods of the day - if only they could have explained why.
4. Rinsing your mouth with water or milk or coffee neutralises the acid immediately so have a drink to sip while you eat. Note; I tried this and it does leave a weird taste if you've just had something like citrus fruit to eat.
5. Sugars have large molecules so they only eat into teeth slowly. Wash the sugar off by all means but don't panic about it. Also fruit sugars are more complex than refined sugars
6. Enamel is made of Calcium and Phosphate and it can rebuild if we are consuming enough of those minerals - which we currently do not - and I clearly am not.
7. Taking calcium pills and monosodium phosphate pills is one way of strengthening your teeth. Presumably there are foods that will do the same so I'm open to suggestions. Perhaps permaculturists can help us make sure we have the right minerals in the soil to ensure healthy teeth.
8. Vitamin D delivers calcium to the site - so go out and sunbathe! Actually the guy suggested more pills.
9. Brush your teeth with regular bar soap! Sounds gross I know but this guy insists it's a good idea. He says soap is anti bacterial and only takes 2 rinses to wash off. On the other hand normal toothpaste leaves glycerine on your teeth, because it takes 20 rinses to get off, and will prevent re-enamalisation from taking place, Someone on a forum suggested tooth soap which I had never heard of but it might be a more palatable option. Just check the ingrediants first. My 2 year old has experimented with brushing with soap but I have to admit to feeling strangely reluctant.
10. Avoid flouride, it's a heavily negative chemical (visit the site for a slightly lengthier explanation).
11. My teeth still feel funny after my visit to the dentist and it's been a week
Ran's latest posting on this subject has a couple more links one of which confirms some of this and also adds:
12. Don't brush straight after eating because the enamel will be soft and you'll brush some of it away.
It's ridiculous that I knew none of this information before I started looking. I'm going to try it out (not sure about the soap though) and see how it goes. I could hardly do any worse. If you want to add to this or argue please feel free, I'm keen to learn more.
01:35 Posted in Crash | Permalink
Comments
I'm always amazed how many people don't know that the bacteria living in our mouths ferment sugar, and it's the acid produced from the fermentation that erodes enamel. I feel like I've known that forever, although it was only since I studied microbiology that I knew which bacteria it was: Streptococcus mutans.
Another thing that will neutralize the acid is to rinse with water with a pinch or two of baking soda in it. I would brush my teeth with baking soda, too, before I'd use soap. Blech.
Posted by: Marcy | 08/03/2007
"I'm always amazed how many people don't know that the bacteria living in our mouths ferment sugar, and it's the acid produced from the fermentation that erodes enamel"
What's amazing is that no dentists ever thought I needed to know. Presumably they think we'll just blindly follow their every instruction.
Marcy - what's the additional benfit of using baking soda? Is it the same reason we used it to wash nappies and also to steralise the water in the water tank on our house bus?
Posted by: Aaron | 08/03/2007
In the UK we have various fluoride free toothpastes, the most well known and widely availble being http://www.kingfishertoothpaste.com. After reading your excellent post and links I am definitely switching!!! Out of interest I've not been to the dentist for 16 years now. I brush once a day and only use toothpaste once a week (chewing parsely or fennel freshens the breath - sugary mints if I'm desperate!). I regularly drink tea, coffee and red wine and although my teeth aren't Hollywood white, they are clean and healthy. Brushing massages gums too so even if you just use water its better than not brushing at all.
Thanks for posting - this stuff is brilliant and your blog is complusive reading.
Posted by: Andy | 08/03/2007
"Marcy - what's the additional benfit of using baking soda? Is it the same reason we used it to wash nappies and also to steralise the water in the water tank on our house bus?"
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a mild alkali, therefore it will neutralize acid. There are directions on the side of the box (at least here in the U.S.) for use as an antacid to alleviate heartburn (something like 1 tsp in an 8 oz glass). It's also used as a laundry additive. I'm not sure why; I think it might be that it softens the water so that the detergent can work better. So, it makes sense to wash nappies with it, but I'm not sure what you mean by sterlizing your water. Sterilization means that something is completely free from microorganisms. Baking soda can't do that, that I'm aware of. It might hinder the growth of some microbes that need an acidic environment, but it's not bacteriocidal that I know of.
Baking soda is used as a toothpaste b/c it's mildly abrasive. Commercial toothpaste usually has silica in it for abrasion. The act of brushing teeth (and washing hands, for that matter) is to mechanically remove food particles and bacteria. Toothpaste (and soap, for that matter) is not antibacterial. It may have a hindering effect, but the reason health care workers are told that hand washing is the most important thing to reduce the spread of disease is not because soap is antibacterial (well regular soap isn't, but obviously soap specifically forumalated to be antibacteria is), but because of the mechanical action of washing. Soap is used b/c it helps grease and water mix. And it affects the surface tension of water to help it penetrate (like in washing clothes).
Posted by: Marcy | 08/03/2007
Andy, thanks for yoru comments. You might be on the right track not visiting the dentist, a friend told me of a journalist who went to three different dentists and got three wildly different asesements of how much work was required on his teeth. I suspect that the dentist's bank balance may have had too much influence over their assessments.
Marcy, Thanks for the explanation. I checked the chemist's website and it definitely said that ordinary bar soap will kill the bacteria on our teeth. It's getting to the point where I'll have to conduct my own experiments I think.
Now that I think about it I seem to recall that we tried putting baking soda in the bus water as an alternative to what most people were doing which was putting a teaspoon of Janola in. Janola is a NZ only brand of bleach!.
Posted by: Aaron | 08/04/2007
"I checked the chemist's website and it definitely said that ordinary bar soap will kill the bacteria on our teeth."
Well, that guy might be a chemist, but I'm a microbiologist. :-) But if you don't believe me, maybe you'll believe the internet:
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1897.html
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f01/web3/bond.html
And for this one you have to read a little further down; it's the second question:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15420827.800.html
Posted by: Marcy | 08/04/2007
So soap can actually increase the number of bacteria on you if it's damp - what fun!
I think I'll just ignore the whole soap thing, our cultures obsession with killing bacteria and microbes is clearly going too far, probably as a result of the reductionsist approach to science - antibacterial soap may be bad for us said one of those sites. We can't seem to kill of the bad ones without killing off the good ones. I think the problem can be approached better from other angles like giving our teeth a chance to rebuild themselves.
Posted by: Aaron | 08/06/2007
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