There's a lot of perverse incentives baked into dentistry. This is true of allopathic medicine was well, though I think it can be more difficult for someone to dispute a diagnosis from a dentist; who are you to say that little dot on your X-ray isn't serious enough to be drilled? It wouldn't surprise me if there are many fill-n-drill dentists out there. I knew people whose oral hygiene and diets were far worse than mine and yet they almost never were told they had cavities, and then there were those who ate properly who have had root canals and crowns.
In my experience, and in my own opinion, the industry of dentistry would be nowhere near as necessary as it currently is if people largely gave up consuming too much carbohydrates and sugar, which feed the bacteria that are ultimately the root cause of tooth decay. Acidification of saliva is of course an issue as well, but I think the whole "drinking cola will rot your teeth" thing is an exaggeration and a sort of red herring. It's not the soda per se, or so much the acidity of carbonated water, but the fact that you're feeding bacteria which colonize in the crevices and pores of your teeth, forming biofilm, creating isolated pockets of acid that wear holes in teeth. If it was all about exogenous acid, then the entire tooth would be rotting evenly, but that's usually not what you see.
My teeth aren't perfect. In fact, there's some decay that I've let sit there for nearly two decades now. Ever since I cut sugar from my regular diet, any caries I had either reversed (when extremely early) or stopped progressing. I do plan on seeing a dentist soon to actually address the decay, because it's silly to leave it there, but I'm confident that I otherwise stopped it in its tracks. My gums don't bleed, and I've seen no meaningful changes to my teeth in all that time. If my hypothesis is correct, then there's a real conundrum because the most affordable food available to people also tends to promote more tooth decay; dentistry largely exists to compensate for the fact that the cheapest available energy for humans comes with negative side effects.
Having had 4 root canals (even though not consuming much sugar), I got kinda obsessed over oral health and looked for options beyond brushing multiple times a day and flossing. In case anyone’s interested, here are some, ordered descendingly by perceived helpfulness:
- Vitamins K2 and D3 halted further decay it seems. For a few years I took only those and things plateaued mostly (but not entirely).
- Chewable digestive enzymes - not much research on this, but eg bromelain destroys biofilm, exposing pathogens to other interventions. This eliminated sensitive gums and remaining pains quickly for me.
- Oral probiotic chewables (Salivarius K12) every now and then reduced the occasional pain in root canals. I also slept better, probably because they reduced throat swelling too.
- Intranasal pathogen interventions (nasal rinse with NAC, tea tree oil etc) and L. Sakei colonization were actually meant to improve nasal breathing (they did), but also helped oral health.
- Organic silica (liquid MMST in my case, but chOSA should work too) - has made my enamel look more solid.
- Tooth paste (chewable actually) containing baking soda, reducing acidity. This helped reduce pain greatly when one of the root canals got inflamed.
Oh and really do take care of inflamed root canals. Those are a major health risk. Look into getting the roots cut off and sealed - it’s gruesome but could save the tooth with relatively low cost.
I had a rough life when I was younger. I went to the dentist maybe 7-10 years ago and they told me they wanted to pull over 10 teeth. Probably closer to 14. I was shocked and shaken. They were even talking dentures. I couldn't believe I was going to be basically toothless. I never went back and it ored dentistry for years.
I just switched dentists last week. One cavity and they want to fix an old crown.
In my experience, and in my own opinion, the industry of dentistry would be nowhere near as necessary as it currently is if people largely gave up consuming too much carbohydrates and sugar, which feed the bacteria that are ultimately the root cause of tooth decay. Acidification of saliva is of course an issue as well, but I think the whole "drinking cola will rot your teeth" thing is an exaggeration and a sort of red herring. It's not the soda per se, or so much the acidity of carbonated water, but the fact that you're feeding bacteria which colonize in the crevices and pores of your teeth, forming biofilm, creating isolated pockets of acid that wear holes in teeth. If it was all about exogenous acid, then the entire tooth would be rotting evenly, but that's usually not what you see.
My teeth aren't perfect. In fact, there's some decay that I've let sit there for nearly two decades now. Ever since I cut sugar from my regular diet, any caries I had either reversed (when extremely early) or stopped progressing. I do plan on seeing a dentist soon to actually address the decay, because it's silly to leave it there, but I'm confident that I otherwise stopped it in its tracks. My gums don't bleed, and I've seen no meaningful changes to my teeth in all that time. If my hypothesis is correct, then there's a real conundrum because the most affordable food available to people also tends to promote more tooth decay; dentistry largely exists to compensate for the fact that the cheapest available energy for humans comes with negative side effects.