Tuesday 23 February 2010

Cavity-Free and Full of Ice Cream!

I went to the dentist today. Yeah, you all probably cringed a little just reading that, but don’t worry; I ate a whole bowl of ice cream before I went!

Forgive me Dentist, for I have sinned. It’s been over a year and a half since the last time I went to the dentist, when I was told I have eight teeth that are decaying and need filling. At the time, I decided not to get the work done, but to start following the Weston A Price traditional diet recommendations.

I bought the book Nourishing Traditions, and started making bone broths and chicken stock and eating organ meats and raw, organic, grass-fed dairy; I started taking good quality Cod Liver Oil and High-Vitamin Butter Oil. It was quite a diet-shift! But I didn’t give up sugar or acid foods. I still eat loads of cake, as always, and my awesome ice cream, which I believe is actually good for teeth, as well as sinfully delicious.

So today, I went to the local dentist for a cleaning, and he looked at my last-seen-ridden-with-eight-cavities teeth, and declared:

Your teeth are in perfect condition and I think if you keep taking care of them they’ll last you the rest of your life.”

My jaw nearly hit the floor! I pressed him, “Are you *sure* there’s no decay? 2 years ago I was told I need some fillings”

To which he replied, “Oh, you have one tiny brown spot on one tooth, but that’s nothing to worry about; it should be fine.”

WOOHOO!!! I went skipping out of the dentist happily! Who would have thought ice cream would be better for cavities than getting fillings?

7 comments:

  1. Hmmm this just reaks of "lets rip off the so called rich aussie?" Your teeth were probably fine all along!

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  2. I was thinking like Karisma, that maybe the original dentist was trying to rip you off. So it's good you didn't get the work done then & even better that maybe ice cream can restore teeth. I think more experimenting is called for (ie more ice cream consumption) :-).

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  3. yeah, except that I could see the holes in my teeth back then. I wasn't convinced they were *all* bad enough to need filling, but they were there. (well, bit's of them weren't there, which is the point)

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  4. I'm a dental nurse by trade and have a theory on this...ice-cream is made with milk, yeah? There is actually something in milk that scientists have found that can help re-calcify teeth. You can actually get a product called 'Tooth Mousse' through dentists that is an ointment used on teeth, left on after brushing, which is milk based. Over time, it aids in new layers of enamel being built on teeth. So, if these holes you had were smallish, it's entirely possible the ice-cream helped them!! Otherwise, it's also entirely possible the first dentist was a dodgy and may have told you you had lots of holes when they may have just been stains or something ;)

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  5. Well, I doubt the ice cream really had all that much effect, because I only started doing it recently, but I have been making an effort to consume large amounts of raw, pastured dairy, for the purpose of remineralising my teeth. I saw the little holes in my teeth 2 years ago - I'm not convinced they were all bad enough to be filled, but they were there. The one that's still remaining (that's just a spot) I can see has gotten smaller.

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  6. this is awesome! congrats on the clean bill of health. we mostly follow a WAP diet (i don't soak grains or deny sugar or whatnot but we eat only grass-fed, raw foods). a friend of ours started her daughter on raw milk and saw a dramatic improvement in her teeth as well.

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Thanks for your lovely words, witty banter and entertaining discussion :)