I had an email from a reader I want to share. Michelle read that I healed Brynn’s dental decay, caused by my ignorantly giving her soy milk and rice milk as a toddler. She wanted to know how I did it.
Here’s our interaction…
Thanks for your response to my question on your blog.
No probs
I love your site. Beautifully designed and really functional!
Thanks (big smiles - Ed)
I just had a few questions and they were kind of off topic so I though it might be better to email you about them.
When you say you healed your daughter’s decay with raw milk how did you do that? Was she drinking large amounts of it every day? Where you doing anything else to heal the decay?
She had as much as she asked for. 5 or six bottles a day I suppose. I also started to cook with bone broth and still do try to get it into them every day. Cod Liver Oil and Butter Oil are very important supplement to help assimilate the minerals in the diet. Avoiding all processed grains and sweeteners will balance the acidity of the blood and therefore saliva. Also avoid vegetable oil. Egg yolk with grated raw (frozen) liver (organic of course) is a good meal to make sure he gets nutrient dense food every day. Of course, avoid all soy (except tempeh, natto, miso and soy sauce) and unsoaked grains and nuts and seeds. My intuition tells me to check his iodine also (not sure why just a hunch), If low, oysters (raw) and other shellfish are a good source as is good quality sea salt.
How bad was hers?
Two small holes in the centre of front teeth, a little brown.
My 2 yr old son’s is pretty bad - one of the dentists I saw wanted to extract his front baby teeth under aneasthetic and put in 2 stainless steel crowns (no way!). As long as he is not in pain I am focusing on treating it naturally as I really don’t want him to have to go through that. I am just overloaded with info from researching it on the net at the moment. It is great to hear stories from people who have treated it successfully without radical intervention!
I totally agree with you Michelle. Why intervene unless he is in pain. He’ll probably lose them quickly, as did my daughter (5) and not suffer the jibes kids with discoloured teeth get at school (around 7 kids become very comparative and ego centric - I’ve found). Dentists have to make a living too. But not on my dollar.
We are already using cod liver oil, x factor butter oil, homoeopathics, raw milk, nearly raw eggs, fish, and lots of vegies and no sugar. I haven’t eaten meat for 12 years and neither have my kids but we are mostly all really healthy and happy - except for my youngest’s tooth decay :(
Weston A Price found that when tooth decay occurs the whole organism is infact, degenerating. There are some great photos in his book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. (you’ll see some on the Weston Price site also) He spent many years studying the habits and diets of people who lived without industrial foods and photographed what happened to them when they came in contact with what he called ‘the foods of modern commerce’. Their teeth decayed, their faces distorted and they became prone to disease and had trouble birthing. In every population he visited on every continent of the planet, he found the same.
Sound like you are doing great with your clo and butter oil etc.
We have been to 3 dentist and they mostly blame it on breastfeeding - but I am mystified as to why he has it as my 8 yr old daughter was also breastfed for 2 years also around the clock and had nothing like this.
I would more likely put it to the exhaustion of your stores of Vitamin A and D, K and B12. By the second child there wasn’t enough to breast feed adequate nutrition for strong bones and teeth (The first four fat soluble vitamins I stated which are only found in grass fed animal foods)
I read your stories about how you started eating meat again - but I just don’t know if I can do it or if I want to.
Price was actually looking for vegetarian societies, living on vegetable matter only. He found none. Of the few he found who lived on high carbohydrate diets, they always included insects, marine life or raw dairy. (Fat Soluble Vitamins)
Also I have also added your link to my links page on my website here: EarthMamasWeb.com
Thanks so much. Beautiful Site. Can you add me to your mailing list.
Thanks for a fantastic site!
Your most welcome sister.
________
Isn’t it funny how fear can control you. Michelle answered me saying, “Yes I get sucked into my fear when I see the dentist and then it takes me a couple of days to rebalance and feel empowered to be able to help him myself.” Good on you Michelle. Remember we’re hear with you also.
Any other comments for Michelle, dear Nourishers?
About the Author...
Joanne Hay, Editor of Nourished Magazine, Chief Nourisher and Mother of three is very grateful to live in Byron Bay and be able to share all she has learned about Nourishment. She has trained as an Acupuncturist (unfinished), Kinesiologist (finished) and parent (never finished). She serves the Weston A Price Foundation as a chapter leader. She loves sauerkraut, kangaroo tail stew, home made ice cream, her husband Wes and her kids Isaiah, Brynn and Ronin (in no particular order…well maybe ice cream first).
Aug 15th, 2007 at 3:01 am
I’m curious about the statement that Vit A, D, K and B12 are only found from animal sources. From what I’ve read, A is found in orange and yellow vegies, D from the sun, K in olive oil. B12 is the only one that is solely from meat, although I have read that lentils are a weak source.
Can you elaborate on this a bit?
Aug 15th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
We have discussed all these questions in our journal (the articles are posted on our website, http://www.westonaprice.org)
There is no vitamin A in plant foods, only precursers, called carotenes. Yes, some people can convert the carotenes, but even in the best of circumstances, we cannot make enough to be healthy. And people suffering from thyroid problems and digestive problems (common among vegetarians) cannot make this conversion at all. For more info on this see http://westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/vitaminasaga.html
Likewise with vitamin D, we only make vitamin D from sunlight when the sun is directly overhead, which is in mid summer at midday. The rest of the time we must get our vitamin D from animal foods.
The plant form of vitamin K, vitamin K1, is not the same as vitamin K2, the animal form. We convert vitamin K1 very poorly and must depend on the animal form for optimal health, which is in animal fats and organ meats, not olive oil. Vitamin K is the same as Dr. Price’s X FActor–see our Spring 2007 journal. (This will be posted on the website soon.)
Vitamin B12 is only in animal foods.
Also, many nutrients, such as B6, zinc, calcium, copper and iron, are much more available and easier to assimilate from animal foods.
Aug 15th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I have also seen teeth repaired. My father had quite seriously chipped his teeth playing with us kids. Its really evident in old family photos, but he has always eaten butter (with everything) and milk by the litre. The teeth repaired over about 5 years. You couldn’t tell where the chips had been unless you had the old photos.
Dad is not a big on going to the dentist, but still has nearly all his teeth (he is 70).
Aug 16th, 2007 at 8:16 am
Miriam, you all ate raw milk, did you not?
Aug 16th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
While Sally Fallon is right to suggest the maximum amount of UVB is present at midday and thus this is the best time for SHORT sessions of sunlight exposure, in fact providing the erythemal index is at least 3 you will be able to get UVB, hence vitamin d, whenever your shadow is shorter than your height.
If you live above latitude 37 then during the Winter the time available will become progressively shorter until it simply isn’t available at all.
Food sources of Vitamin D3 are mainly oily fish. The supplement Cholecalciferol Vitamin D3 is the one that should always be used “The Case Against Ergocalciferol (Vitamin D2) as a Vitamin Supplement. Lisa A Houghton and Reinhold Vieth explains why D2 should never be used or prescribed.
To absorb the maximum amount of Calcium from food/supplements you need a Vitamin D3 status above 80nmol/L. However the level associated with optimal health and lowest breast cancer incidence is 125nmol/L.
Each 400iu D3 capsule daily will raise status by 7-12nmol/L. The lower your status the easier it is to raise it the nearer optimal you are the lower the rise. Most UK readers will currently be between 50-75nmol/L so will require around 2000iu/daily/D3 to approach optimal Vitamin d Status.
Aug 17th, 2007 at 1:53 am
Despite a Traditional Foods diet during pregnancy and nursing, both of my children’s teeth erupted with cavities and discoloration. I also developed several cavities myself. We later found out that all three of us had celiac disease, and other food intolerances had developed due to the gut damage from the celiac. If you are following a Traditional Foods diet and still having dental problems, check into malabsorption and gut damage from food allergies, celiac, or other causes as the source of your dental problems.
Once we eliminated our allergens from our diet even in trace amounts and began taking steps towards healing our guts, we were able to get the cavities to heal. After 6 months of supplementation with CLO, high amounts of trace minerals from Concentrace and sea salt, and switching to tooth soap, the cavities healed. We did not use butter oil because we all three react to it due to dairy allergy, even though it claims to be casein free. We all went through particularly strong periods of salt cravings while it was healing.
KerryAnn Foster
http://www.cookingTF.com
Aug 23rd, 2007 at 4:22 pm
I recently went to talk about Vit D and sunlight, given by a reseracher from Sydney who’s worked in Vit D for 30 years. If you live in northern Austrlia eg Cairns, you’ll be able to get Vit D from sun all year round. Recommended amount of time is about 10 minutes a day around 10-11 am (depending on whether daylight saving is in force).
in Southern Aust (south of about Sydney), you need about 6-8 minutes at 10-11 am in midsummer. In midwinter, you need at about 30minutes at noon - assuming the sun is out at all.
All the exposures need at least 15% skin exposure - so hard to do on a cold winter’s day!
Interestingly the speaker said a significant fraction of office workers had low blood levels of Vit D. Going to work at 8am, going home at 6pm and eating lunch in front of the computer doesn’t do much for your Vit D levels. Ironically smokers have better Vit D status because they are forced to go outside for a smoke!
Also seafood is a good source of fat soluble vitamins too.
Oct 4th, 2007 at 6:21 am
Good work to the mother’s taking care of their children. The secret is balanced blood chemistry.
So eliminating allergen foods, or foods that deplete the body of nutrients, like soy milk or rice milk, is an important factor to healing tooth decay.
Vitamin D from the sunlight is good for overall health, but if you look at Nutrition and Physical Degeneration you will see that in the 1930’s modern Swiss they tried to use sunlight to heal tooth decay but it did not work.
Rami
http://www.curetoothdecay.com
Jan 30th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Reading this article has only confused me more about tooth decay (but towards a positive note). I recently got a daunting response from a paedeatric dentist who issued me with a $4300 bill to fix my 4 year olds teeth… (concerned about two holes). She informed me that there was severe decay between the rear molars on all sides (you can’t even see it) but the xray stated it was there. The dentist listed all known causes of which foods and drinks my daughter DIDN’T consume. yes she breast fed for 6 months but I thought that was supposed to be good for her. I don’t understand why her alleged decay is so bad. Your article indicates healing tooth decay but my dentist said this is impossible. What can I do! My daughter is on the waiting list to get her teeth repaired but is it necessary.
Jan 30th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Natalie, get a second opinion, preferably from a dentist who practices wholistically. A number of consumer investigative groups have shown that a range of dentists will give a wide range of diagnoses on the SAME person. Quotes on dental work also vary.
Jan 31st, 2008 at 1:15 am
Natalie, what a huge bill for baby teeth! You say that you can’t see any decay, but that there were two holes. A question - did the dentist show you the X-Ray and explain the indications of the “severe decay” that it displays? If not, I’d at the very least book an appointment with her so you could gain an appreciation of the extent of the problem. If the dentist refuses to show you the X-Rays that you have paid for, I would get a new dentist if I were you.
Before you have any treatment done or make any payment on it, as you appear uncertain about your Dentist’s advice it might also be a good idea to politely delay Dentist number 1 while you quiently find a completely separate Dentist number 2 to get a second opinion. It might cost another couple of appointments, but they would be a lot cheaper than $4300. If the second opinion confirms the first, at least you have peace of mind the diagnosis is likely to be valid.
Apr 14th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Hi. I was just reading through this thread to get some advice but I’m still a bit confused. I couldn’t figure out what the original thread was, so maybe someone can help me? My son is 3-1/2, and has allergies to milk, eggs, nuts, dogs and cats. So far none of those allergies have been life threatening. Initially a red rash would creep up his face from chin to nose, and then he’d get hives. With the eggs he just had a clear runny nose after eating them. The allergies have been confirmed by an allergist, but it seems as though his body may be tolerating some of those items lately (like butter or whey in margarine, and cooked eggs or milk).
I took him to the dentist for his 3 year check-up, first time, and he’s got 3 cavities that they noticed without ex-rays. A month later (looking for a pediatric dentist in/out of network, and waiting for the appointment), he’s got 2 more cavities. Since the first dentist appointment, I have definately tried harder to clean his teeth more often, and be a bit more careful of how much juice or other things he ingests. I will admit that I’ve been more lax with him than my other children simply because he cannot have all of the foods that they can, but I still can’t believe that led to five cavities - especially that two of them are in the front, one between the two front teeth and one on the bicuspid which honestly, if the child nor the parent brushes well enough anyway, that’s probably the one spot that would get brushed more than any other of the teeth! The other cavities are in his back molars, and are pitted as well (holes on the outside of the tooth).
One of the posts on this board mentioned about drinking soy milk. Of course since he cannot have cows’ milk, he drinks soy milk. Incidentally, and I’ve mentioned this to the two dentists I’ve seen so far, he has broken his humerus and ulna at 15months old (his older brother, 5, fell on him as he was crawling past), and his femur at 33 months (slipped or fell out of his twin bed which was not very high off of the floor). I’ve wondered if there is some kind of calcium-deficiency thing happening here, but can’t seem to get any confirmation on that from the pediatrician or bone doctors.
Can anyone offer any thoughts on this for me? Maybe some supplements that I could give to help him? Anything is greatly appreciated, thanks!
Apr 15th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Marie, Weston Price Foundation should have a lot of information for you. Try this link: Weston A Price Foundation
The key to your son’s health is diet and not brushing. Price was a dentist who travelled the world studying traditional societies. All the societies he studied that were living on their traditional diets had almost no tooth decay. They were breastfed during the night and they didn’t brush their teeth. The key is fat soluble vitamins found in nutrient dense foods - particularly grass fed animals. You can also get some information from this article on Nourished: Forgotten Tooth Decay Cure
From your description of your son’s cavities and broken bones, it sounds as though he almost certainly has severe mineral deficiency. Have you tried him with raw milk? Many children are allergic to pasteurised milk but not raw. Also, the calcium in raw milk is far more absorbable than in pasteurised. If dairy is totally out then follow Joanne’s guidelines above with bone broths and large amounts of high vitamin Cod Liver Oil. Dr Price was able to reverse tooth decay in malnourished children by giving large doses of CLO.
Good luck and please let us know of your progress!!