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How To Save Your
Teeth On A Raw Food Or Vegan Diet
Many cavity-stricken
health seekers have previously tried and failed to
implement a high-fat, processed, fruit-light raw
food diet, or some variation of a vegan diet, and
the the foods they consumed have done their mouth
serious damage.
If not well managed, such diets imperil your teeth,
with cavities commonly popping up after a year or
so.
Luckily, healthy raw diets are fantastic for your
teeth. My dentists always compliment me on the state
of my mouth, and note there isn't much to clean.
It's not that I'm in any way
special, and I got my fair share of cavities before
I learned how to eat well. Now I simply eat foods
that don't cause cavities.
When my coaching
clients are looking for answers to their
dental problems, this is what I tell them.
Why You Get Cavities On Vegan Diets
SAD eaters get plenty of cavities, of course, but
when you upgrade by giving up meat,
eggs, and dairy,
or decide to experience
of benefits of a raw food diet, you'd expect
your oral health to get better, not worse.
Unfortunately, this is often not the case due to
poor implementation. When most people go vegan, they
tend to replace animal foods with grains,
starchy tubers, nuts, seeds, and other processed
vegan foods; this is a mistake with a long history
of causing problems.
Prior to the large-scale adoption of agriculture
about 10,000 years ago, cavities were rare. During
the paleolithic and mesolithic ages, dental decay
was pretty unusual, and recovered skeletal remains
only begin having large numbers of cavities at the
start of the neolithic age, when the species started
to farm and eat grain crops (1).
When native Americans were pure hunter gatherers,
they had virtually no dental decay, but when they
started growing corn and consuming it dried as a
staple, cavities started appearing in the skeletal
record (2).
The major cause of cavities is low water, sticky
foods of all kinds. As civilization arose, the
fresh, high-water fruits, vegetables, and other
gathered foods that man thrived on for millenia were
phased out of the diet and replaced by these dried
foods.
When consumed, they often stick to our teeth. The
body deploys acid to get them off, which is fine on
occasion, but when your diet is dominated by these
dried foods (in some areas of the developing world
grains make up over 90 percent of the caloric of
peoples' diets, and modern grain-centric vegan diets
are little better) the acid eats away at your teeth
and leads to cavities.
Processed, Dried Raw Foods Also Cause Cavities
People want to believe that because of a food is
raw, it is magically always good. This is not so,
and there are numerous examples of unhealthy raw
foods.
Dried fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and processed
raw food products probably have an even greater
ability to stick to our teeth than grains, and it's
unfortunate that these are major staples of the
diets of many raw foodists. By consuming these foods
regularly, you're just asking for cavities.
The answer is to go back and eat the diet that our
ancestors ate for millenia: whole,
fresh, raw, ripe fruits and greens.
Self Cleaning And Dental Care:
When it comes to medical care, less is often better
than more. Doctors are great at stitching you back
together after physical trauma, but they have a
pretty shoddy record when it comes to reversing
disease, and I don't see them for checkups.
On the other hand, dentists do a great service for
us by preventing tooth decay, and I highly suggest
everyone find a dentist or dental hygenist and get
twice-a-year cleanings.
Many people have teeth or mouth settups that make
cleaning certain areas harder, and a good cleaning
can remove buildup from these areas and prevent
damage.
I also suggest you floss twice a day and brush at
least once. Personally, I don't use toothpaste, but
do make use of some baking soda on ocassion.
For any acumulation around the gumlines, I have a
small dental pick.
Juice And Acid Fruit
Acidic fruits, such as oranges, as well as juice,
often get blamed for cavities and tooth decay. This
has so far not been my experience.
Particularly during the winter months when it's
abundant and tasty, I eat plenty of citrus fruit,
often two large meals a day. So far I've had no
tooth decay, so it doesn't appear to be doing me any
harm.
Juice
is a rare treat for me, and I don't suggest it be
consumed regularly. However, it strains logic that
raw juice could be a significant contributor to
tooth decay. I eat tons of juicy fruit every day,
and my teeth are bathed in it with every mouthful.
Is the presence of a bit of fiber really going to
make much difference?
To be safe, you may wish to swish your mouth with
water after eating acidic fruit or juice, but I
personally don't think it's a big deal.
Save Your Teeth: Following Up
Save Your Teeth: Sources
1) Whittle, A., &
Whittle, A. 1996. Europe in the Neolithic:
the creation of new worlds. Cambridge
University Press
2) Mullin, M. (n.d).
Iroquoia: The Development of a Native World
(Book). American Indian Culture and Research
Journal. 27(3), 112-114
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