I realise that this may be slightly off-topic for the list, but I believe that any recent changes in my body's responses are likely to be largely the result of a higher proportion of raw foods in my diet, and I am interested in exploring the relationships involved. So I hope you will bear with me. :) About a year ago, one of my back teeth was slightly painful on an intermittent basis. It didn't ever get to the stage where I felt I needed to go to the dentist with it. I felt that, even though there was likely to be some sort of infection present, my diet (probably about 50% raw at the time; now it is more like 75% raw) seemed to be keeping it under control. I went for my regular dental check-up a few months later, and the dentist told me that an old filling in the tooth needed replacing, and that there was evidence of some decay around it. When he replaced the filling, he commented that he was surprised the tooth hadn't given me more trouble, considering the state it was in. (The drilling went through to the nerve.) The tooth didn't bother me again until recently, except for occasional slight temperature or pressure sensitivity. Then, about a week before Christmas, it suddenly became very painful during the course of one day. By late afternoon, the pain was quite severe, and I was thinking that a visit to the dentist might be imminent. But it disappeared even more suddenly than it had come, and was completely gone by the end of the day. The same sort of thing happened again a few days ago, although on this occasion the pain took a little bit longer to appear and disappear. Now, I have some questions about all of this: (a) Is it reasonable to assume that the recent episodes were part of some sort of healing process? If so, what could be the mechanism involved that would result in such intense pain for a short time, and then allow it to subside without any intervention? OR (b) Is it likely that they were direct responses to deal with something I had recently eaten? On the most recent occasion, I was aware that I had been eating quite a lot of sugary stuff (something I rarely do these days) not long before I first noticed the pain. OR (c) Am I being irresponsible in ignoring pain unless it is severe and prolonged, thereby perhaps setting myself up for more serious problems later because of some sort of low-level infection that may be present all the time and that is not being dealt with? On the two or three previous occasions that I have had similar toothaches involving other teeth (now some years in the past), the pain has persisted and resulted in root canal treatment on each occasion. So I feel that something has changed - presumably my body's ability to deal with waste and infection because of the change in diet. I would be interested in any comments on any of the above, particularly the sorts of mechanisms that may be involved. Regards, Barbara