Guest post by Carey O’Rielly DDS
Diet as the key to preventive dental care.
Recently I gave a presentation to an international dental association. The topic was dentistry and its linkage to Chronic Inflammatory Diseases (CID’s).
The culprit is gum disease and its associated bacteria. As time goes on there is more and more research showing a connection between gum disease and CID’s like heart disease, strokes, diabetes, arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease.
The other topic of my seminar was nutrition. The role of nutrition in dental health is very important, along with the genetic factors that affect structure and immune response (which is triggered by inflammation).
Of course, diet plays a part in immune response as well, which affects the health of our gums. How our immune system copes with stressors, both internal and external, is impacted by what we eat.
The many toxins now present in our environment are among the external stressors; internal stressors include microbes and dental metals. The mercury controversy, which persists in spite of massive evidence of its neurotoxicity, is only one of the dental materials that continues to be linked to chronic illnesses. Diseases such as multiple sclerosis, thyroiditis and Alzheimer’s have not only been associated with the mercury in amalgams, but also with other metals such as nickel, used in braces and crowns.
How do we sustain ourselves and our families in the face of so many potential issues and how does diet help us?
The idea that whole foods can actually be a source of healing seems faddish in this age of easy fix pharmaceuticals. Generations raised on vaccinations and antibiotics have long been programmed to believe in the ‘magic bullets’ held out by the drug companies.
Certainly antibiotics- when they work- can seem like a magic bullet. However, as we are coming to find out, antibiotics cannot touch certain strains of microbes that have become resistant to them, and the aftermath of antibiotics on our intestinal terrain also needs to be considered. Probiotics can certainly restore balance in our internal ecology; however careful monitoring and persistence may be required.
The precept “Let your food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food” is usually attributed to either Hippocrates, a fifth century B.C. Greek physician, or to Galen, a 2nd century B.C. Roman physician. Therefore, although the idea is far from new, it took ‘pioneers’ like Dr. Bieler, creator of the well-known Bieler broth recipe, Jethro Kloss, author of Back to Eden, and Bernard Jensen, the well-known nutritionist, to begin steering people back to that way of thinking.
In dentistry, perhaps the most influential person regarding the impact of nutrition on dental health was Dr. Weston Price. He is the originator of the focal infection theory, which posits that teeth with root canals will remain infected and can have an effect other organs as a result.
In 1939, he published Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, which assessed the impact of diet on the various cultures he found on his travels. In his encounters with Aborigines, Native Americans and Polynesians, he found that wherever processed foods replaced the traditional diet, there was a corresponding increase in dental problems.
These observations lead to his conclusion that the staples of the modern Western diet, like sugar, flour and processed vegetable fats, were an underlying cause of many dental and health issues due to a deficiency of minerals, lack of fiber and other nutritive factors.
Today the Price-Pottenger Nutritional Foundation in Lemon Grove continues to provide educational resources to the public. Dr. Price’s work has also inspired a book called Cure Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel, which describes a father’s success in re-mineralizing his toddler’s decayed teeth with nutrition.
Dr. Price found that one of the most important nutrients that impact the health of teeth and bones was the body’s ability to metabolize calcium. Today we know that Vitamin D is one of the key factors that determines the body’s ability to absorb and utilize calcium. Vitamin D, the Sunshine Vitamin, can be absorbed through our skin. It is not actually a vitamin but a fat soluble hormone that allows our body to synthesize the calcium it needs through the liver and kidney.
Vitamin D can be obtained with supplementation and also in limited amounts from foods, the most notable being cod liver oil. Our bodies also store Vitamin D in the liver and in fat, so adequate exposure during spring and summer can sometimes see us through the winter months!
The phytochemicals in whole, organic foods that are loaded with the vitamins, enzymes and minerals to support our immune system are often found in the parts that people throw away!
The rinds, stems, seeds and skins have special properties that make them anti-aging, anti-disease, anti-viral and anti-fungal. Many people are discovering the joys of blending their meals. Two and three horsepower appliances like the Vitamix and the Blendtec blender can pulverize most any foods – including pits – creating healthful meals out of whole fruits and vegetables.
Dr. Carey O’Rielly is an experienced holistic/biological dentist practicing bio-compatible dental care in a supportive, non toxic environment in Encinitas. His services include safe amalgam removal, microscope evaluation of oral bacteria, a natural approach to gum care, enhanced oxygen therapies and evaluation of dental metals with inexpensive galvanic testing.
For more information visit his web site at www.myholisticdentist.com, or his youtube channel at www.youtube.com/holisticdds.
The information in this video has been called the missing link in mental health and personal development. In a world full of shallow, quick-fix techniques, second rate psychology and pharmaceutical takeovers, real solutions have become nearly impossible to find. This presentation will turn your world upside down.
Mike Bundrant is co-founder of the iNLP Center and host of Mental Health Exposed, a Natural News Radio program.
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