Dental Health!

As with many areas of medical care, I think everyone here intuits that the dental care industry presents a woefully incomplete rubric for health. Brush and floss and don't eat sugar, and your teeth will be fine, right? But that's not the whole picture.

Many people here talk about dental issues that have been exacerbated somehow by Lyme. My teeth were absolutely perfect until I got Lyme, and now every tooth except for my incisors has had work done. I have one crown, one extracted tooth, and one root canal that I plan to have extracted when the pandemic is over. I'm not sure of the exact causal mechanism, but I suspect it has to do with a combination of microbiome changes, immune system challenges, and the body reallocating mineral resources away from tooth enamel. Anyone else have any theories?

My question is what do you all do about accelerated dental decay?

Oil pulling, mouthwashes, toothpastes with or without fluoride depending on your perspective? Have you found any supplements or other practices helpful?

I get cavities between my teeth, and they don't seem to be decreasing in frequency no matter what I do. I just found a new one and am freaking out because I cannot fathom how a dental visit would be safe during a pandemic, particularly for someone with immune deficiency. (And the cavities between teeth are impossible to keep clean, and tend to go above the gum line, making fillings challenging or impossible, sometimes leading to extraction....) I brush, floss religiously, oil pull with clove essential oil, and brush or at least rinse after I eat fruit (i.e. sugar). I don't grind or clench my teeth or eat crunchy things. There must be some other piece to the puzzle.

this may be worth a listen

https://chriskresser.com/unconventional-cancer-treatment-and-the-gut-dental-connection-with-dr-al-danenberg/

i should be on commission for this guy! lol!

i used to rate him highly - and still like his general evidenced-based approach and how he presents the information - but he has gone a bit commercial for my liking lately )

I’ve had gum disease since teen years - took years to get it in remission.
No explanation for it.

But I don’t get a lot of cavities. Very strange.

I will be going to the dentist soon for a cleaning - I don’t want the gum disease to relapse.
Covid is here for a long time to come - I don’t want to lose my teeth.

But - we don’t have many cases of covid here - maybe if we did, my decision would be different.

Garzie said...
yep - I was the same = gum disease - but no cavities at all

Mine took longer to get into remission - it just happened - after years of every 3 months cleaning.

I have a few deep pockets but they haven’t gotten worse.

I ended up having surgery on them - and afterwards the bleeding gums continued.

Thank goodness it finally stopped.

I think one of the reasons I healed so fast from chronic lyme was because I lost my upper teeth when I was 17 years old (bad accident). For my lower teeth I always used a mouthwash that contained tea tree oil as well as the toothpaste called Kiss My Face (I like the ingredients). about 5 years ago I had my lower teeth removed (I wear dentures).

Since this topic was brought up I read this from Mercola's website:

STORY AT-A-GLANCE:

September 24, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released its long-overdue safety communication on amalgam

The FDA warns mercury fillings may adversely affect people in certain high-risk groups and should be avoided
Groups identified as being at increased risk for harmful effects from dental mercury fillings include pregnant women and their developing fetuses, nursing women, women who are planning to become pregnant, infants and children under the age of 6, people with neurological diseases, impaired kidney function or heightened sensitivity to mercury or other amalgam components

After years of pressure from Consumers for Dental Choice and its allies, the FDA finally agreed to reopen the amalgam issue, and now admits dental amalgam releases mercury vapor that can cause health problems in some individuals

The FDA also advised against use of the misleading term “silver fillings,” and urges patients to discuss all dental filling options with their dentist

Thought the above was interesting.

Denise

Hi Saraeli! I recommend the book Cure Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel, it has some interesting points. It's based on Weston Price's research about the link between the teeth health and nutrition. Yes, they always tell us to floss and not eat processed sugar, and run to the dentist when there is a cavity, but there is so much more to it than that. Teeth are alive, they have a nerve inside them, they need proper nutrition just like any other part of the body, and lots of vitamin D too. I even read (online) some people actually reversed cavities using the information in the book.

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone!

Luckily my gums are fine, it's just my tooth enamel that's feeble. I will check out the Nagel book and original Listerine.

Orbiting - For what it's worth, a friend (who is kind of a wimp, frankly) had the gum graft surgery and was totally fine. They took tissue from the roof of her mouth as well as the spot where the inside of the lower lip attaches to the gums. It looks incredibly gnarly, but she said it healed up very fast and didn't cause her any pain.

Skinny_joe - I have not taken long-term antibiotics, but my child was on Bactrim for MRSA for several weeks and her teeth turned grey. Fortunately the staining went away eventually. Eek.

I axed gluten five years ago, but I enjoy seltzer sometimes, and I've heard any carbonated beverage can be deleterious for enamel.

I've noticed my enamel is eroding, more since tick born infections and co...had an impacted wisdom tooth removed thankfully; it was brittle and had a cavity in the side. Now I can feel my tongue mostly over my smooth teeth but there is another side impacted tooth or brittle cavity again that I can feel with my tongue, guess I should floss more often! Had not heard that about carbonated drinks, but is that also true of flavorless or no-sugar seltzer? maybe that is causing my enamel to decay faster. I like to swish coconut oil, and also chew some xylitol gum, both are supposed to help.

Medicalnerd,

Didn’t you mention mold in another post? Are you out of exposure now?