At 10:16 PM 10/31/2000 +0000, you wrote:
>My observation also is that if you go in to get your mercury out, yes you
>will get it out, but you will also end up with crowns/root canals, etc.

In the early 90s I had a crown put on a failing tooth.  A few years later I
had
a root canal through that crown. Eventually (February, 2000, a month or so
after I began moving into Paleo) the crown failed, couldn't be replaced
because
the tooth was so far gone, the canal-weakened tooth root was removed by an
oral
surgeon (April) who replaced it with some bone graft. Six months or so later
(Oct 5) he put in an implant (basically a titanium-lined hole into which a
post
will be placed), and I expect my dentist to be working on a crown for it (put
over the post) by the end of January 2001. What a long, strange (and nicely
surprisingly almost painless) trip!

So what I can say is that a root canal will leave you with weak roots that, if
the crown fails, an oral surgeon is better able to remove than most dentists
(and this will cost more). To help in placing the implant, though, my dentist
took a full-mouth impression with some yechy-tasting gummy material that he
told me not to worry about because it's made with some form of seaweed :) I
also know he's very interested in health issues and is exploring taking
herbs &
vitamin for himself, and he drinks green tea, too :)

Very recently I had a chip in a tooth. I could feel it with my tongue but not
see it. My dentist cleaned it out, removing an old filling (old as possibly
from the 70s), and he removed a chip that had felt to me like food caught
under
my gum. He repaired it all with a white material (he seems to prefer to use
gold for uppers when it comes to crowns, but white [porcelin?] for lowers;
possibly for cosmetic considerations). Anyhow, after repairing my slightly
broken tooth, he said nothing at all about needing a crown--and he would have
told me the bad news. So I'm a happy gal with some very strong feeling teeth
now in that repaired area.

Finally, I do feel that my converting to eating more paleo has actually helped
my teeth and gums. It was much too late to prevent my eventually needing the
implant, but I think it is helping in my rapid healing. (That and tons of
vitamin C)

Debby
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