On Tue, 31 Oct 2000, Mary wrote:

> The dog owners, however, say that on a species specific diet,(wolf diet with
> raw meat, bones, organ meats)  the dogs no longer need to go to the vet to
> have their teeth cleaned......plaque is gone on species specific diet. Why
> does not this work for us? After all, the dogs ' mother would have been on a
> SAD diet (commercial dog  food) so why would a switch to paleo dog diet make
> such a dramatic difference?

My experience is that it's not *plaque* that's the problem on a
paleo diet; it is trapped food--especially meat--between the
teeth and below the gum line.  I have experienced this on several
occasions, with a resulting severe inflammation that persisted
until I was able to remove the trapped meat.  The bit of meat
extracted would smell foul and was clearly decomposing.

I would also point out that paleo skeletons have been found with
dental abcesses.  Kennewick Man was one.  In short, this shows
that even though paleo people had very little dental caries,
their dental health was not necessarily perfect.

Weston Price would probably say that because I was eating SAD
during my developmental years, the spacing of my teeth is not
what it should be.  This may be true, but I don't think it was
Kennewick Man's problem.

Whatever the cause, the reality is that meat and other foods can
get caught between the teeth.  Gnawing on bones isn't going to do
anything about it.  The trapped food can rot there and cause
infection.  Since a toothpick is a sharpened stick, I guess it's
okay to use one.

Todd Moody
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