Let’s talk teeth, shall we?
The majority of conversations about dental health are actually about dental hygiene. Hygiene is a good thing, for sure, but so often we think we’re doing all the right things: brushing twice a day, flossing, even mouthwash! and a cavity bores its way through a tooth or we have to get a root canal. Hygiene is not synonymous with health, not for the teeth and not for anything else, really. (I’m looking at you, chronic cleansers!)
In the 1930s a dentist named Weston A. Price traveled across the world and had the luxury that we no longer have in our homogenized world of meeting people who were living in the traditional ways of their ancestors. This was truly a global expedition that he undertook and he photographed mouths from all across the racial spectrum (and we’re using racial lightly because we understand that race is quite the construct, right?). In the vast majority of cases, dental hygiene was not exactly de rigueur. (He reports on some older people who have tartar/plaque that is quite thick but perfectly health teeth and gums, exemplary, even. )
His interest was teeth. But, his studies have shown to be some of the most valuable as far as health goes in the last couple centuries. (note: that’s editorial, okay? But, I dare you to find something more valuable. In fact, comment below!) What he discovered, among other things, was that teeth told quite the systemic story. The inflammation of the gums or the rot of the teeth (still paying attention?) were the easily accessible image of what was happening under the skin. In other words, healthy teeth and gums meant healthy people.
What can seem surprising to us on this end of the twice a year dental visit for free toothbrushes and lollipops (do they still do this? Even at 8, I thought that was sending quite the mixed message.) and aisles of toothpaste choices is that the health of the teeth and gums had nearly nothing to do with hygiene. What made healthy teeth, healthy gums, healthy people was diet. Not enough nutrients, not enough absorption of nutrients and the teeth rotted.
Now, our dental health is a little harder to gauge accurately because we can so easily get cavities filled (even in porcelain so there isn’t even the telltale dark spot of mercury or whatever other strange thing they used to pour in the tooth holes), get new teeth, have surgery. After a couple visits to the dentist (or crazier the orthodontist! My generational story of bad nutrition is generally hidden because my teeth all fit in my mouth now. Well, I have 4 less teeth and the others were pulled into place.), we can convince ourselves that we are in good dental health.
If our eyes are the window to our soul, then our teeth are windows into our bones. Mostly because they’re, you know, bones. Also, our gums tell us so much about the inflammation of our other tissues. (For the incredible ease of teaching and learning, we’ve divided our body into systems, then tissues, then cells, etc. It provides the illusion that our muscles kind of are glued to our bones. Or that our organs are these sacs that are kind of floating in our abdominal cavity. The truer truth is that our muscles become our ligaments become our bones become our tendons become our veins become our organs…like one unbroken morphing string.) That is to say that what is happening in one place in our body tends to be happening everywhere. Although the manifestation of rot in our teeth may not mean that our bones are rotting, it does mean that systemically we’ve got a malnutrition issue.
Are you still with me?
When the people that Price was studying left the traditional nutrient dense diets of their ancestors/culture and adopted the convenient foods of the “western diet” (you know what most of us grew up eating…mac n’ cheese, mayonnaise sandwiches, vegetable oils….) their teeth rotted. Most surprising, when they had kids, their kids faces didn’t develop as they were supposed to and their grandkids had serious deficiencies. (This mirrored a little of what Francis Pottenger was discovering with cats in his raw food studies.) Not only were their offspring and grand-offspring’s teeth rotting, their bones weren’t developing appropriately and their faces were…pinching.
When your leg bones don’t grow quite right, those plastic sticks with synthetic bristles rubbed across your teeth seem a little….inadequate.
If you want shiny, white teeth, you can definitely pay for those and get them. If you want healthy teeth that you don’t have to put in a cup at night, you may want to focus your energy and money on what you eat.
Okay, I hope I’ve convinced you. Here comes the logical question: Eat what?
Why, I’m so glad you asked.
These are some of the things that Price discovered were almost universal in traditional, nutrient dense diets.
1. Fermented things. Fermented things are awesome because they practically make themselves. My personal favorite to make is sauerkraut. It’s basically a chop and wait proposition. My favorite to eat? Oh, honey! Give me kimchi, give me old cheese, give me miso, give me herbal beers, give me cider, give me vinegar….give me fish sauce! Basically, I’m of the “the more it reeks, the better it tastes” school of eating.
2. Raw dairy. Where dairy was found to be consumed, it was eaten raw. This is now illegal in most places. If you can still get it, you’re lucky. And you probably have better teeth than the rest of us. You can still get cheeses made from raw milk in most places. If you can tolerate cassein, have at it. Most cheeses, fermented long enough (meaning hard) have much lower lactose levels, so this tends to be slightly less of an issue.
3. Organ meats. Yes please! Cow tongue, tripe, goat heart, chicken livers, ox balls…forget a multivitamin, eat an organ! These are goldmines of nutrients. I eat organ meat at least once a week.
4. Animal fat. Here’s the thing. Vitamins A, D, E, and K need fat in order for you to absorb them. You can take all you want but with no fat in the diet, it’s kind of useless. Yes, carrots have vitamin A and you can eat them until you’re orange in the face, but with no fat, no absorption. And no absorption of these vitamins? (D is more a pre-hormone, btw.) Rickety bones and bad teeth. And weird hormonal stuff. And, oh, yeah, cancer.
5. Bone broths. Wealth can be measured to me by the jars of bone broth I have in my pantry or freezer. I no longer have the jaw strength that my ancestors from way back had to break through at eat the bones, cartilage and marrow, but broth feels a lot better going down.
*Edited 12/20/2012: In a gross and tragic oversight, I didn’t specifically mention BUTTER. Oh, people, I’m wearing the hair shirt for this. For some reason, I assumed (and you know what happens when we assume, right?) that raw dairy and animal fat combined would lead to the obvious conclusion that butter was implied. HOWEVER, butter was not just implied in Price’s work, it was a golden, delicious, creamy cornerstone. I apologize! I LOVE butter. I have fond memories of jars of it (yep, jars) being sent to my dad from his cousins who still lived in his home village. It was different colors depending on the time of year and so….rich…so decadent. We would eat it by the spoonful. And it would dissolve and just go down smooth like….butter. Yeah, there’s a reason we use that to explain how silky easy something is. If you are still using margarine, please, please, please consider going back to the original health food. When Price found the nearly universal use of butter in his work, he thought that there was a certain Activator X that it contained. Yep, an X Factor. (Visionary, this man.) Come to find out, Activator X is vitamin K2. K2 (other than that mountain face and really bad 90s movie about said mountain face) is one of the keys to strong dental health. It works synergistically with A and D. K2 is also a fat soluble vitamin, right? Well butter is one of the best sources of K2 (foie gras is one of the VERY best! Oh, lordissa..pleasure AND good teeth? It’s almost like our tastebuds evolved in conjunction with our environment to enjoy the stuff that makes us healthy. Weird, right?) And Vitamin K2 in butter is wrapped up in satiny fat with a spreadable bow. Three cheers to you nature!
You can read a more scholarly article about it (and be connected to a treasure trove of information!) here.http://www.westonaprice.org/fat-soluble-activators/x-factor-is-vitamin-k2#dental (Again, apologies, my link button is NOT working this morning! Finger push-ups?)
There are more things, but this is getting long and you can definitely do some legwork of your own.
There were zero vegan groups found and only a couple vegetarian groups, but they were not 100%. They would have some fish or other meats occasionally, but they were not among those with the healthiest teeth and offspring.
In short (too late), for better dental health I rely on eggs quick cooked in butter over my toothbrush. But, you all appreciate the hygiene, too, I’m sure.
Nourish yourself to freedom.
*If you enjoyed this, like me on the book of face. Also, find me on Instagram while I’m still on there before they pull that nutso shenanigan. And, comment away, people!
I’ll be answering reader questions on Friday in a new way that I’m totally stoked about!