Ashley Moran wrote:

> [snip]
> For people eating paleo:
> -If you have gaps in your teeth, floss.
> -If you don't, you don't need any dental care at all (apart from
> following a strict paleo diet).
>
> Any comments?
>
I'd like to respond to some of the other comments too. My teeth are now
more resistant to decay than ever.  And I have much less gum irritation
and pain than 8 years ago when I started on this diet.  So it seems that
the bacteria I get from raw meat and the paleo diet isn't the type that
affect teeth adversely - at least from my perspective.  There is no
doubt that I have a "healthy" growth of bacteria in my mouth but I do
not feel that this type is likely to increase my chances of getting
respiratory illnesses or the like (and experience seems to bear this
out).  But in my youth I was always getting gum infections, teeth
abscesses, lung infections, strep throat, etc., etc.

I regularly visit the dentist just to have a cleaning done and each time
there is nothing special going on except that my teeth and gums seem to
be getting slowly healthier.  Prior to the diet I would get a cavity
about once in 2-4 years or so.  I've had all the mercury fillings taken
out and replaced with the newer composite - and I haven't had a vaccine
in about 20 years or so.  Any new mercury I ingest would probably be
from fish - but I'm not too concerned about that particular form of
mercury.  As a child I played with liquid mercury and got it on my
fingers and had fun putting it on pennies and dimes to shine them up.
So I've no doubt that I've had more than a fair share of mercury get
into my body.  According to some friends symptoms I've had around my
ears are the result of metals moving out of my system and crossing the
blood-brain barrier.  So I'm hoping that will continue - it comes and
goes.   I'm about to participate in a mercury testing program so I'll,
for the first time, get some reading of what is showing up in my hair.
One thing for certain is that my brain function is much more robust in
these past 8 years - but I can't say if there is any mercury connection
going on there.  But the diet itself has improved memory and complex
thinking, computation, and especially the use of vocabulary and word
understanding.

As to brushing I do have a spouse so brushing without paste (just using
water) is the least I can do.  And I do enjoy using the "Dental-pics" I
get from the drug store and the occasional pine needle (they do seem to
be perfectly built to do that job).  To help with breath freshness I
chew dried fennel seeds which taste a little like anise or licorice.
Occasionally I will use Tom's toothpaste when I feel that I've got a
case of "trench mouth."  I only use "natural" ingredient toothpastes
without fluoride.  There is, after all, plenty in the drinking water
where I live anyway.  But if I could filter that out I'd be pleased.

I guess I'd recommend to others to at least mechanically clean between
the teeth and regularly get the plaque taken off if you do not do it
daily using other means like the dental picks, etc.   It doesn't seem to
cause me any problems to keep the teeth clean this way.

Regards,

-=mark=-