For most of my life I believed that healing tooth decay was impossible and that the only way to sort out our dental problems was to visit a dentist and expect a filling or extraction. However, I’ve discovered that we can heal tooth decay and solve other dental problems, both through diet and supplements and by using homeopathy.
Dr. Weston Price, a dentist from Cleveland devoted a lot of time to researching tooth decay and the natural methods of solving dental problems (Any quotes from his book are included in italics). He wrote:
“Drilling, filling and billing is the model of conventional dentistry and it is also a business model. The modern system of dentistry has evolved from the combination of beliefs that tooth decay is caused by bacteria (Streptococcus mutans) and the belief that bacteria eat foods in the mouth and produce acid that causes teeth to decay. Dentistry then aims to control bacterial growth in the mouth for treatment and prevention of tooth cavities. Dentistry’s war against bacteria can be summarised:
- You must brush your teeth all the time to eliminate these ‘disease causing’ bacteria.
- You must rinse your mouth with chemicals to eliminate more ‘dangerous’ bacteria
- You must floss to eliminate the remaining bacteria and food particles
- When those three tactics to not work, you must pay a dentist to remove the bacterial infestations with drilling.
- When a dental drill cannot remove the bacteria and the bacterial growth progresses the tooth root can become infected. This requires a root canal to attempt to clean out the bacteria from within the tooth,
- Finally, when all these procedures fail to keep your tooth alive from the supposed onslaught of bacterial invaders, the tooth must be removed and a fake tooth or no tooth is what remains.
Modern treatments do limit some pain and suffering, but if the basic cause of tooth decay (your diet) is not addressed, your teeth continue to decay.”
His book is inspiring and very informative, with before and after pictures so that you can see what is possible. He advises us to not use synthetic vitamins or supplements to get the nutrition we need, instead use good food and some good quality supplements. Most importantly, to maintain healthy teeth, or to remineralise decayed teeth we need the correct amount of Calcium, Phosphorous and Vitamins A and D. If you do have tooth decay, you are probably deficient in those vitamins and minerals.
He recommends using Blue Ice Fermented Cod liver oil. It’s not cheap, and I have only been able to buy it online, but I’ve used it for many years and it has worked wonders for my family.
As well as making sure we get enough of those vitamins and minerals we must, if we are serious about remineralising our teeth (that is to heal the decay in our teeth and make the enamel stronger) eliminate some things from our diet, most importantly:
- Sugar
- White flour & products made from it
- Cereals
- Oatmeal
There are other things which hinder remineralisation and should be avoided while you are trying to heal decay:
- Sweet fruits like dates, peaches, pineapples, dried fruit, blueberries and bananas
- Sweeteners (especially in soft drinks) such as Xylotol, high fructose corn syrup, agave nectar, glycerine and other fake sweeteners
- Raw nuts (which are high in phytic acid)
- Avoid all grains for 2-3 weeks if you have a difficult tooth that is not healing.
Food which helps remineralise our teeth include:
- Soup made from bone broths. Broth is made by boiling cartilage rich bones of chicken, beef, lamb or fish. Dr Price informs us, “The best bone broth for tooth decay reversal is broth made from the carcasses of wild fish – including the head and organs”.
- Raw milk and other dairy products such as Kefir, buttermilk, butter and cheese – but these must not be processed because we need the enzyme phosphatise, which is present in raw milk.
- Organic meat, including offal, especially liver
- Eggs
- Sea food, seaweed, beet greens, nuts, beans, cauli, olives, green vegetables
- Fermented foods (not the processed type)
An alkaline diet encourages remineralisation. It is also worth noting that common toothpaste brands which include fluoride and glycerine prevent remineralisation. Another thing I have found helpful is ‘oil pulling’ with coconut oil.
I would recommend Dr Weston Price’s book for a much more in depth explanation and details of the recommended diet to heal tooth decay. I have seen it work, I have seen cavities improve and disappear but it’s not easy to maintain all the healthy protocols in today’s world. For me, toothache is a great motivator, but once the pain recedes I find that my bad habits gradually creep back!
How Can Homeopathy Help?
Homeopathy alone will not heal tooth decay, but if you are prepared to make the changes to your diet it will assist in the remineralisation process. It will also help in many other ways such as tooth pain, teething, abscesses, braces, dentures etc. The most common homeopathic remedies we use for tooth decay are Calc-phos and Calc-fleur which as well as having some healing properties also give the tooth strength to resist cavities and other problems, but let’s start from the beginning:
1. Teething
All of us need a calcium rich diet for strengthening our teeth. Breast milk of course covers this in young children, but also consider whole raw milk, yoghurts, cheeses and bone broths as well many other calcium rich foods. Avoid vitamins with calcium in as they cannot be properly absorbed and may cause further problems as time goes on. The most common remedies to help with the pain of teething are:
- Chamomilla – especially for delayed or difficult teething where the child cannot bear the pain. Restless and contrary they are helped by being carried around. More cross than upset and often worse at night.
- Pulsatilla – More upset than cross, clingy and weepy. Going outside in the fresh air helps a bit.
2. Fear of going to the dentist
- Aconite – sudden panic or terror, often with restlessness. Take a dose of 30C or 200C the night before if necessary and before the appointment.
- Gelsemium – Real nervousness with a weak or trembling feeling. May be accompanied by nausea or diarrhoea. Take a dose of 30C or 200C the night before if necessary and before the appointment.
3. Braces
My teenage daughter had a brace fitted last week and although I’d always heard how much the remedy Ruta-grav helped with the pain for the first few days, seeing it in action was pretty impressive. For a couple of days she asked for quite a few doses of Ruta 200C and claimed it helped enormously. A different remedy, Calc-phos 6x has been shown to help eliminate the need for braces if used over a long period of time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I wish I’d tried this for my daughter many years ago.
4. Toothache
- Belladonna: Throbbing pain, worse touch
- Mercury: Pain pulsing towards the ears, increased saliva, bad breath
- Mag-phos: Shooting pain, relieved by heat
- Chamomilla: unbearable, neuralgic pain. Sensitive to warm food and drink, relieved by holding cold water or ice in their mouth, worse at night
- Coffea: Shooting pain which may come on in spasms, worse for any warmth and touch, but is relieved by cold.
- Aconite: Unbearable sharp, tearing pain with anxiety and restlessness
- Ruta: Dry sockets, for the pain of a broken jaw at the onset on a tooth which has loosened in its socket due to a trauma
5. Tooth Abscess
- Belladonna: For sudden gum or tooth abscesses which are red, inflamed and throbbing and aggravated by the slightest touch
- Hepar-sulph: Hypersensitive to touch and cold, gums bleed easily, increased saliva. This remedy helps drain pus from the abscess
- Silica: Use after the pus has discharged, this helps the abscess heal.
- Myristica: The abscess is swollen and the area may be numb, good at eliminating all the pus and healing the abscess.
6. After the dentist
- Arnica where there is any bruising, or you feel bruised. It will also help stop bleeding following an extraction. (If Arnica fails to stop bleeding consider Hamamelis). Arnica can also help the soreness following denture fitting.
- Hypericum – for nerve pain after a tooth extraction or filling. Indicated by sharp shooting pains.
- Ruta-grav –
- Ledum: for the aftereffects of dental injections
- Calendula: to prevent infection and speed healing of wounds
- Pyrogen: if infection has set in
If you are aiming to heal a long term problem, I would recommend a very low dose (6 or 12C) repeated daily over many weeks. If your problem is more acute, reach for 30C or 200C of your chosen remedy and repeat as necessary, every half hour if need be. Do not repeat more than 3 times if you see no benefit from your remedy – make another choice.
Do get in touch with me if you’d like any help or support using homeopathy.