On Fri, 17 Jul 1998, Mary wrote:

> Went to the dentist today, for the first time since being on mostly meat diet.
>
> The hygienist said, your gums look so good, so tight and so pink.
>
> That is the first time they ever said that to me.
>
> I always had good hygiene (floss, etc) but the carbs would wreck everything.

I have had pretty much the same experience, after years of gum
problems.  Even the Zone diet, with fairly liberal carbs, quickly
corrected the gum problems, and my gums have remained in
excellent condition ever since, with one exception.  There is one
area that occasionally becomes inflamed for a few days, for no
apparent reason.

I think it is the absence of grains and starches that does the
trick.

> Also, the hygiene treatment that they do in the office, how good is it for
> you? They scrape your teeth hard supposedly to get away plaque, they put
> some pretty abrasive stuff on it to "polish" the teeth which feels like
> gravel, etc

I wonder.  Since low-carb I note that the scraping is less
intense because there's less plaque.  Even the old "pockets" from
gum disease have closed a little.

Todd Moody
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