> He had horrible brushing habits -- rarely did it
 > -- yuch!  And when he needed braces, the dentist kept warning him that if he
 > didn't improve his brushing while the braces were on, his teeth would have
 > lots of cavities after the braces were
removed.  My brother continued his bad
 > dental hygiene while wearing braces and when they were removed, he had tons
 > of tarter build up but not one cavity.

I've actually wondered whether plaque/tartar has protective benefits since
reading Weston Price's book and his routine observations that the perfect
teeth of people on their native diets were often filthy looking by Western
standards.  IIRC, the Swiss children had green teeth.

There's been quite a bit in the news over the last year or two that bacteria
entering the blood stream via the gums may be responsible for heart disease
because of an inflammatory response.  Wouldn't plaque/tartar seal off
pathogens and keep them from entering the bloodstream?   Sort of makes me
wonder whether having regular visits to the dental hygienist with all the
scraping under the gum line and resulting microscopic trauma to the soft
tissues that could permit bacterial invasion to the bloodstream is such a
good idea.

Theola