Theola <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>in the conventional sense, I don't take very good care of my teeth.

Theola, do you mind being more specific about your dental hygiene?

I stopped brushing my teeth in autumn 2002 after being on paleo for a
couple of months or so. It just felt natural. Then in april or may 2003 I
started to eat grain and dairy products again and had to buy a toothbrush,
and brush my teeth, but I didn't reintroduce the toothpaste. I found that
after brushing my teeth a minute or so, a natural toothpaste started to
form in my mouth (probably saliva combined with soft plaque) and assisted
in the polishing process. I've been back and forth on paleo several times
and now I'm back again. In the end of the last year I stopped using dental
floss. When e.g. a piece of meat gets stuck between my teeth I now use a
strong uncolored sewing-thread to get rid of it. I don't trust dental
flosses. They always tasted something, sometimes sweet. God knows what
they've been soaked in.

I haven't checked my teeth in maybe four years. After eliminating junk food
from my diet, almost two years ago, they have hurted only a handful of
times after trying foods like chocolate, white bread, honey, and banana
chips. (I bought the banana chips from a local health foods store and the
manufacturer had not provided any ingredient list, so I thought they were
just dried bananas (ignorant me), but my gums and teeth started to hurt and
after drying my own bananas, I saw that they didn't become hard, but soft,
so I contacted the manufacturer and they said that the bananas contained a
vegetable oil, honey and sugar. I complained to the food administration and
my local health office and the content is now declared, except for the
sugar (perhaps they stopped using it, perhaps not). When the health food
store heard about my accident they gave me a big bag of roasted peanuts in
shell, which I liked at the time.)

Fredrik