Our Teeth as a Reflection of Our Health
Aug 07, 2020 09:05AM ● By Jeanne Bjorn
Often our teeth are treated as separate and not viewed as having anything to do with our overall health. Fortunately, there have been some amazing researchers who have conducted studies in the past, showing how closely tooth and body health are interrelated.
One of those researchers, Ralph Steinman, DDS, performed numerous experiments on rats and mice to determine how tooth decay begins. He injected a combination of glucose and fructose into the abdomen of rats and watched as it traveled directly to the pulp of the tooth, where it began the decay process. Steinman also discovered that the normal flow of nutrients is from the abdominal area into our teeth and then out into the mouth—which gives the teeth nutrition and cleanses them. When he fed his rats sugar orally, that natural flow was reversed, causing stagnation and decay to form on the inside of the tooth. Steinman concluded that it may not be what is on the surface of the tooth, but what is allowed to penetrate into the tooth that brings about tooth decay.
Dr. Weston Price—another extensive researcher and pioneering holistic dentist—traveled to remote areas of the world to find what healthy people had in common. What types of foods did they eat to keep them healthy? He found consistently that as long as these people stayed on their native diets, without the influence of processed foods, they remained healthy and their teeth had very little decay, if any. He even discovered a tribe of people in Africa, who filed their teeth to points, had no dental decay and that their teeth actually formed a protective layer after the filing was done.
Both Steinman and Price viewed tooth decay as systemic illness. They knew the foods that would keep our bones in our body healthy would also keep our teeth (bones) healthy. The best foods for our bones and teeth include: good quality saturated fats, whole fat and raw dairy products, organ meats, oysters, mussels and non-starchy vegetables. Just as our bones are capable of repair and regeneration, so are our teeth—with good nutrition. Our teeth will always reveal to us our state of health.
Jeanne Bjorn received her master’s in Holistic Nutrition in 2006 from Clayton College of Natural Health, where her thesis work was on Dental Health and Nutrient Dense Foods. She is a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. She is also a Professional Member of The National Association of Nutrition Professionals. Connect at 520-882-4324, [email protected] or MyNurturingNutrition.com.
One of those researchers, Ralph Steinman, DDS, performed numerous experiments on rats and mice to determine how tooth decay begins. He injected a combination of glucose and fructose into the abdomen of rats and watched as it traveled directly to the pulp of the tooth, where it began the decay process. Steinman also discovered that the normal flow of nutrients is from the abdominal area into our teeth and then out into the mouth—which gives the teeth nutrition and cleanses them. When he fed his rats sugar orally, that natural flow was reversed, causing stagnation and decay to form on the inside of the tooth. Steinman concluded that it may not be what is on the surface of the tooth, but what is allowed to penetrate into the tooth that brings about tooth decay.
Dr. Weston Price—another extensive researcher and pioneering holistic dentist—traveled to remote areas of the world to find what healthy people had in common. What types of foods did they eat to keep them healthy? He found consistently that as long as these people stayed on their native diets, without the influence of processed foods, they remained healthy and their teeth had very little decay, if any. He even discovered a tribe of people in Africa, who filed their teeth to points, had no dental decay and that their teeth actually formed a protective layer after the filing was done.
Both Steinman and Price viewed tooth decay as systemic illness. They knew the foods that would keep our bones in our body healthy would also keep our teeth (bones) healthy. The best foods for our bones and teeth include: good quality saturated fats, whole fat and raw dairy products, organ meats, oysters, mussels and non-starchy vegetables. Just as our bones are capable of repair and regeneration, so are our teeth—with good nutrition. Our teeth will always reveal to us our state of health.
Jeanne Bjorn received her master’s in Holistic Nutrition in 2006 from Clayton College of Natural Health, where her thesis work was on Dental Health and Nutrient Dense Foods. She is a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. She is also a Professional Member of The National Association of Nutrition Professionals. Connect at 520-882-4324, [email protected] or MyNurturingNutrition.com.
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