Diet And Dental Disease
IS YOUR DIET THE CAUSE OF YOUR DENTAL DISEASE?
TOOTH DECAY, CROWDED MOUTHS, AND GUM DISEASE ARE NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCY DISEASES
Is Your Diet the Cause of Your Dental Disease?
TOOTH DECAY, CROWDED MOUTHS, AND GUM DISEASE ARE NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCY DISEASES
Dr Weston A. Price was a famous dentist in the 1930s who was the first to make the connection between diet and oral health. He found groups of people from various geographic areas and climates eating varied diets who were “immune to tooth decay.” It was amazing to him, and as a concerned dentist, he needed to understand why.
WHO WERE THESE PEOPLE “IMMUNE TO TOOTH DECAY”?
Typical Maori teeth BEFORE a Western Diet was introduced
Photos Courtesy of Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation
Sounds like some new type of super hero, but they were actually just normal everyday folks. Swiss, Scots, Eskimos, Aborigines, Polynesians and Africans living typical lives. So what did all these different people have in common? Well, they all ate ancestral diets. Meaning they ate foods based on the wisdom of their ancestors who learned over time what made them healthy and strong. These ancestral diets had certain commonalities
· 4 times the amount of water soluble vitamins like B and C than the average American
10 times the amount of fat soluble vitamins like A, D and a mysterious compound called “activator X” (Vitamin K2) than the average American
Cavities were rare. Crowded teeth were rare too. Their dental arches were wide enough to accommodate all of their teeth INCLUDING wisdom teeth!
WITH “PROGRESS” COMES ORAL ISSUES
Typical Maori teeth AFTER a Western Diet was introduced
Photos Courtesy of Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation
Over the past ten years, Dr. Price has witnessed as these populations transition to a Western diet that introduces flour, sugar, and seed oils. Less time is spent eating their traditional foods, which Dr. Price refers to as “the displacing foods of modern commerce.” So what happened?
Tooth decay – the result was almost immediate. Click here to see why
Narrow Faces and crowded teeth – this transition was a slower, generational shift
LESSONS LEARNED AND TEETH SAVED
Dr Price began working with high-risk populations in the US, introducing foods rich in fat-soluble vitamins into their diets. Foods are high in A and D, such as cod liver oil, deep-sea fish, fish eggs, and liver. He saw no decline in decay. How could this be?
He decided to include foods high in “activator X” – Vitamin K2 - like high vitamin butter oil and cheese. This addition caused decay rates to drop dramatically!
WHY IS K2 SO IMPORTANT?
K2 helps vitamins like A and D do their job. These vitamins help the body form proteins that move calcium from where it's stored (MGP) to where it's needed (Osteocalcin)—like your teeth and bones. Without K2, this process won’t happen! Low K2 is also a factor in a number of other diseases/degenerative conditions, like arterial plaque, osteoporosis, and wrinkles.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO ENSURE YOU GET ENOUGH A, D, AND K2?
Well, having a diet rich in these vitamins, like a paleo or ancestral diet, is best. Include liver, salmon, pasture-raised eggs, fish eggs, ghee from grass-fed cows, and cheese (if dairy is tolerable), which is best. If you feel you may have a problem eating these foods- or just prefer the ease of a pill – consider purchasing cod liver oil capsules, vitamin K2, and Ancestral Supplements freeze dried beef organ capsules.
And don’t worry about overdosing – remember, the populations Dr. Price investigated had ten times the amount!
Watch the following video to learn more about the fantastic work of Weston A. Price.
I want to add that Dr. Price did not have the luxury of having information that came in later years. He missed a very important influence on jaw growth- chewing hard foods. However, Vitamins A, D, and K2 serve as proxies for meat consumption, which is hard enough to chew to stimulate jaw growth early in life, thus establishing straight teeth and room for wisdom teeth.
Also, the populations he studied did not consume vegetable oils, which destroy our metabolism and promote inflammation. This leads to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration, and cancer. For more information on processed carbohydrates and vegetable oils, click here.
Price-Pottenger.org is the best resource for more fantastic information Click here to get there.
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WESTON A. PRICE AND HIS WORK?