Paleogal wrote:
 > Good grief!  There must be SOMETHING you can swish in your mouth to
 > heal

The recent "health tip" here in Japan is to swish yogurt around the
mouth before bedtime to help teeth. As far as I understand the effect
is to kill off the bad bacteria and replace them with good ones. I do
it when I remember. Maybe it helps. Surprisingly it does not lead to
strange smelling breath or a bad taste in the mouth come morning.

Yogurt is all the rage here, with a dozen new and different types
appearing in the supermarkets every week or two. I take most of the
claims with a grain of salt, see which survive the winnowing process of
time and experience. We make yogurt at home all the time.