Sign up for the REAL FOOD FOR ROOKIES class to learn how to get Real Food on your table without going nuts or going broke! Get bonuses like a FREE Real Food Ingredient Guide and members-only Real Food coupons to save up to half the cost of the class. If you'd like to earn money as an affiliate, read more here.
You’ve got to see this video about curing tooth decay. Isn’t it wild when this hits you: better nutrition can not only protect our bodies from disease and improve our dental health in general, it can even reverse cavities!
Ramiel Nagel’s book on curing tooth decay:
Cure Tooth Decay: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition (First Edition)
- Read more about Ramiel Nagel & curing tooth decay from Food Renegade.
- Do bread and cereal cause cavities? From Cheeseslave.
Rami’s other book that I’m reading right now – full of great Weston A. Price-friendly advice:
Have you had any experience with this? I hope you’ll tell us about it!
This post is part of Fight Back Fridays!
SUBSCRIBE ANY WAY YOU PREFER!
Subscribe in a reader 
or Subscribe via e-mail 
for free blog updates.
Learn more from the COMMENTS BELOW - join the conversation!
Icky small print stuff: privacy policy, disclaimers, terms & conditions.
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
I had tons of cavities and 2 root canals eating the “SAD diet”. And I had chronic tooth pain and sensitivity. I was always buying Sensodyne toothpaste.
Since I’ve been eating traditional foods, I have no pain, no sensitivity, and NO CAVITIES!
And I’m really bad about brushing. I mean, I don’t brush very long, just very lightly — and I only floss once a day now. Still, no cavities.
Of course it’s all the raw milk, cod liver oil, bone broth, and oysters I eat!
CHEESESLAVE’s last blog post..Healthy Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Honey Dipping Sauce
I identify with that feeling. The first time I realized that people could REVERSE cavities, I was amazed! It sounded unbelievable until I met people online who’d actually done it.
Thanks for sharing that video with everyone for Fight Back Fridays! I wish they’d given Rami more time.
Cheers,
KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)
FoodRenegade’s last blog post..Michael Pollan On Marketing Food
The other day I was looking at my teeth and they really looked a lot better to me. I’m certain they’re remineralizing now. Remains to be seen if the cavities I did have (and for which I have fillings) will reverse. Next month when I visit the dentist I should know.
Soli’s last blog post..Thankful Thursday
I have 5 kids…with my first child I ate the SAD diet unfortunately, and he started getting cavities while still a baby. When my second son was 9 months old we moved to a place where raw milk was widly available and changed our diet somewhat at that point. To make a long story short all the rest of my children are cavity free and to be honest they hardly brush their teeth and never floss….:). At my second sons dental check up the dentist said he had better teeth than his kids……I was just dieing to have him ask what we do!!!!
Joyful Mama’s last blog post..~It’s that time again……
I have 5 cavities in 4 teeth right now. I keep putting off the dentist so I can work on healing them naturally. I’m drinking bone broth daily, cut out the flouride/glycerin, use the recipe at http://www.saveyourteeth.com, and have a bit of either raw milk or raw whey daily. I also got some calcium lactate to rub on but I keep forgetting
.
At my last cleaning she measured the cavities so during the summer I hope to go back for new measurements. I’m not perfect on my diet though, so we’ll see…
Beth
Back in February, my daughter’s first visit to the dentist had revealed two abscess cavities and the start of several new ones. She is 6 and was just starting to complain of pain on the left side of her mouth. I have been reading WAPF material and have had NT cookbook for quite awhile but was a little overwhelmed and procrastinated implimenting the new way of eating. Well,wouldn’t you know a potential $5000 dental bill and a child in pain, were the very things I needed to get off my butt and start. I read Mr. Nagel’s book, “Cure Tooth Decay” in one day. Since then we’ve been drinking raw milk, butter, grass fed beef and pastured chickens, lard, coconut oil, switch to glycerin-free tooth soap and I’ve been giving my daughter fermented cod liver oil and butter oil (caspsules which learn to take very well) in the morning and before bed. No more pain…at all. The abscesses are almost completely gone. I have noticed the teeth have turned black as Ramiel said they would when decay is arrested. Also, her breath is so much better. They are baby teeth, so we just have to hang on to them until they are ready to come out. I am absolutely thrilled and I thank you for your advice and recipes! What you are doing has really made a difference for me and my girl!
I love reading your testimonies!
Your comments reminded me that I’d like to know what glycerin-free, Fluoride-free toothpaste you all are using? I was using Tom’s (Fl free) but then wanted to go glycerin-free too, so I got Jason’s – and the flavor gags me every day (tea tree/cinnamon flavor, and I don’t think they had many other flavors, or at least none that sounded any better)…I’d like more options!
Kelly,
Just wanted to let you know that there is a great tooth soap recipe over at http://www.passionatehomemaking.com under the recipes tab. I just use the peppermint Dr. Bronner’s soap and am sorta generous with the stevia and my husband even likes it. It’s quick, frugal, and another added benefit is that it is sulfate free. If I remember correctly, even some of the more natural, fluoride free toothpastes still contained sulfates.
Megan
I think homemade toothpaste is fabulous, but we use the Jason Sea Fresh brand. It does taste really good. If I had more time, I’d just make my own. Maybe someday….my son uses Logona kid’s toothpaste. I have to admit he really doesn’t brush as well as I’d like, and sometimes his front teeth look like they could use more brushing…but he has never had any cavities. Our whole family started eating real food when he was 5 and now he’s 8 1/2. I think our dentist is always amazed that he never has cavities (nor me). Here’s the post I wrote about this subject a few weeks ago on my site…http://astotd.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-stop-cavities-in-their-tracks_24.html
Raine Saunders’s last blog post..Hormones in the Milk – Do You Know What Your Kids are Drinking?
Okay, I was doing some more reading. Apparently sodium lauryl sulfate can be either in chemical form or natural form. When it is in natural form I guess it isn’t supposed to be an item of concern, so maybe that is what was in the toothpastes that I was looking at. Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to clarify.
Megan
This is a little embarrassing, but after I went away to college, it was 11 years before I went to the dentist again, just a few months ago! Somehow, without parents around to schedule appointments for me, I forgot to go, and after a while I just kept putting it off because, as only a once-daily brusher, I was sure it would mean cavities, guilt, and more dentist trips.
You can imagine my surprise and delight when the dentist kept raving about how clean my teeth were! I told him that I ate a healthy diet when he asked, and he told me that this had to be the reason. Raw veggies and fruits do a lot to clean the teeth, and not eating crap saves them from a lot of decay.
Matt (NoMeatAthlete)’s last blog post..My Favorite Salad
Kelly, great post, really wonderful.
btw, Weleda makes great products – we love them, maybe give them a try, they have lots of flavors.
Annie – Hip Organic Mama’s last blog post..Mama was Right! (weight loss, processed health foods, real foods)
I have this book & I so wimped out! My son had a tiny spot of decay and I took him to a dentist (holistic) right away. He did air abrasion on the tooth. They did not need to drill or give any pain medication which was a relief. He sat on my lap the whole time. I believe that the whole wheat cereals and breads are the culprit. I have gotten a little lazy. I jsut started giving him the FCLO and Butter Oil. He drinks lots of raw milk. Reading this is getting me motivated again to really focus on feeding us better! I also had a small cavity and will try to halt it with better nutrition. The dentist recommended Calcium Flouride to give him. Is that the same as flouride? I was a little suprised he recommended because he is very familiar with the WAPF teachings. I also want to share one more thing about my experience with this dentist. I had my wisdom teeth removed about 8 yrs ago and ever since then have had pain in the lower jaw where they were removed. I went back to the oral surgeon shortly after and my dentist and had x-rays . They said there was nothing wrong and sent me on my merry way. I have been in pain ever since then. We just switched to this dentist and he did acupunture on me. He told me I have a bone infection and I have a referral to an oral surgeon. I am really excited that finally someone acknowledges that there is something wrong and it is not all in my head! He also said that my digestive problems could be from this and it could lead to heart problems. I have both Cure tooth Decay and Healing our Children and I have seen most of the videos Rami has posted. I really enjoy his work.
I just went to the dentist, and they told me that I had a weak spot that they would have to fill next time.
My goal is to heal it completely (that would be so cool!), I was so disappointed when I found out that I had one starting! I’ve always been really good at keeping out the cavities.
My ‘natural’ spry toothpaste has glycerin I think. What exactly is bad about it? Now I’m going to have to search for a new one!
Kyle’s last blog post..Real Eggs and finding them
I second the glycerin question. Where do I read about that? I thought I had a good toothpaste with my Peelu but it does have glycerin. I didn’t realize that was something to watch for. My kids use Waleda, I haven’t checked it yet.
Yes, what is wrong with glycerin? I have been buying the NuNaturals stevia that has gycerin instead of alcohol in it, thinking I was making a healthy choice. More info please.
Now I don’t remember where I heard that glycerin wasn’t good or what I read! I’m out of town and don’t have a lot of time to research, so I’m going to email a couple people who would know and ask them to comment…stay tuned.
OK, I emailed Rami, so until I hear back, you can also read about glycerin by googling “tooth soap glycerin”, and you’ll have a little reading anyway. I’ll let you know when I hear more.
Thanks,
Kelly
I remember when my grandpa would buy horses he would always look at their teeth to determine their health. Most people who bought horses did the same thing. Yet now we seem to distance the health of our teeth from the health of our bodies. It’s like it’s considered normal to have cavities and “fillings.” It’s not and it shows an unhealthy body. The correct reaction would be not just to brush our teeth better but to remove sugary drinks from our diet, increase calcium intake and take better care of our bodies in general. THAT will keep the dentist away.
Oooh, that is so interesting, I didn’t know that about how they’d check out a horse’s teeth before buying! Makes perfect sense though.
Here’s more on glycerin: http://www.omri.org/glycerolmonooleate.pdf, and I also read somewhere that glycerin is glycerol, from either genetically modified corn, as a derivative of HFCS refining, OR much more likely the heavily cancer causing chemical refining and rendering of tallow or lard, from slaughterhouses for soap making.
Rami Nagel said this: “My take on it was according to another chemist, it sticks to the teeth. Either way, it is gunk. It isn’t food. We have to be careful what we put into our mouths. Glycerin is a filler chemical, its not what we need. It’s modernized. I suggest cleaner tooth cleaning products such as: toothsoap, herbal tooth powders, homemade tooth powders, and tooth liquids with essential oils.”
My fluoride free toothpaste contains xylitol and sodium lauryl sulfate. Should I switch brands?
Hi Vera,
There’s more on that topic in the comments at this post to help you decide: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/01/fluoride-safety.html. To avoid all that is even more expensive than just to avoid the Fluoride.
We tried Jason’s toothpaste recently – it has no laurel sulfate and now that the tube is almost gone I’m finally getting used to the weird taste (tea tree oil & cinnamon flavor). I don’t think it has xylitol but the kids’ one does, and that doesn’t bother me so much since it’s such a little amount and it’s not swallowed anyway. I’ll try another flavor next time or go back to Tom’s of Maine for us (I love the cinnamint flavor), and keep buying Jason’s for the kids. Links to all those toothpastes are at the Fluoride post (same link as above: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/01/fluoride-safety.html)
Kelly
Very, very interesting. But… the more I learn about real food and real nutrition, the less I am suprised at things like this. I’ve got a great healthcare reform plan… let’s all eat real food and no one will need healthcare!
HELP! My Dad is going to the dentist in 15 minutes because he has a serious cavity under a pre-existing filling! Is it possible for him to remineralize?????????
Alisse, your Dad might benefit from this book! Won’t be overnight, though, as I’m sure you realize.
When I was a child my mother prepared a mixture of baking soda and iodized salt to use instead of tooth paste. We furthered that with a few drops of peroxide. There were times over the years when I would go back to tooth paste. Cavities! Switch back to the baking soda, salt and peroxide and no new cavities. Now I am going to be alternating with the homemade tooth paste, as I brush twice daily. A couple of my teeth are proof that decay can be arrested. Time will tell if the holes will fill in. If they don’t, well at least they won’t be getting bigger.
{ 2 trackbacks }