It is very disturbing that most conventional dentists still insist that a cavity cannot heal on its own when proper nutritional support is provided and detrimental foods to oral health removed from the diet.
The very textbooks in dental school indicate that this is possible! Here is an excerpt:
“It has been shown experimentally and clinically that incipient caries [small cavities] of enamel can remineralize.” – Sturdevant’s Art & Science of Operative Dentistry 4th Edition, 2002.
Of course, Dr. Weston A. Price DDS, a prominent, well-respected dentist early in the last century who used to be President of the National Dental Association (1914-1928), the forerunner of the American Dental Association, wrote about cavities healing with diet on numerous occasions in his nutritional classic Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
Why has this information been so completely buried and vilified in recent decades?
Perhaps it is the profit motive that keeps most dentists from acknowledging this truism of oral health. Why dentists might be concerned about their business evaporating if this information became widely acknowledged is short-sighted, however. I mean, even if dentists promoted to their patients that cavities heal and assisted them with the appropriate dietary intervention when necessary, there still would be plenty of drill and fill business for them from caries that did not resolve from diet alone due to food intolerances or genetic issues known to impact enamel formation.
Dentists that choose to insist that diet only impacts the formation of cavities, but not whether they heal are doing their clients a huge disservice.
The reason?
Cavities that have remineralized are actually more resistant to subsequent decay kind of like a callous on your hand. Again, a direct excerpt from dental textbooks on this very subject:
“These discolored, remineralized, arrested caries [cavities] areas are in-tact and are more resistant to subsequent caries [cavity] attack than the adjacent unaffected enamel. They should not be restored unless they are esthetically objectionable.” – Sturdevant’s Art & Science of Operative Dentistry 4th Edition, 2002.
Photographs of the Cavity Healing Process
From a consumer perspective, more and more parents are realizing the power of diet to arrest and heal cavities, and they are starting to photograph it to prove their case.
Kristin S., a mother in New York then consented to the use of her own series of photographs of her child’s cavities healing over a period of six weeks.
The discoloration and holes in the teeth were identified as actual cavities by the child’s own dentist prior to the healing diet being commenced.
The photos are taken at week 1, week 3, and week 6. This article overviews the specific dietary changes and the recipe for the natural toothpaste that Kristin used with her 3-year-old son.
As you can see below, the discoloration in these cavities remarkably disappears over a six week period and the holes in the enamel begin to fill in.
These results are impressive and very encouraging for those parents who keep their children’s teeth meticulously clean only to still experience tremendous problems with cavities.
Do you have a series of photographs of your child’s cavities healing? If so, please email them to me at [email protected]
Let’s keep the heat on the conventional dental establishment by sharing with each other our successes as parents in resolving our children’s cavities!
Need the whole story about diet healing cavities?
This book by Rami Nagel is a must-read on the subject: Cure Tooth Decay
Need a Dentist Who Understands Tooth Remineralization?
I get many requests about who I recommend as a truly holistic, biological dentist. If you are looking for one, I recommend Dr. Carlo Litano of Natural-Smiles.com – (727) 300-0044. He sees young children as well as adults and does phone consults for those who don’t liver close enough for an office visit. Be sure to tell Dr. Litano that Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist sent you and get 10% off your first visit!
References
The Disturbing Trend of Minimally Invasive Dentistry
How I Healed My Child’s Cavity
Toddler’s Severe Tooth Decay Halted in 5 Days
Resolving Periodontal Problems with Bone Broth
Coconut Oil Stops Strep Bacteria from Damaging Tooth Enamel
Avoiding Root Canals with Diet Alone
Could the Cause of Your Illness Be Right Under Your Nose?
I am also a Registered dental hygienist. I’m actually involved in a nation wide collaborative studying early childhood caries. If enamel is decalcified ( very early cavity not yet “cavitated” or not in to the dentin) the enamel can be remineralized , we use flouride to do so, but perhaps if given a chance with good oral hygiene and proper nutrition, your saliva could remineralize it as well. Cavites that are a hole in your tooth, can not be healed in my experience of 30 years. However, we do see many cases where the decay has been arrested. Which means it did not get worse and it turned black and hard. That generally occurs also with the use of certain types of fluoride use and diet changes. I would not consider this healed and it doesnt go back to healthy tooth tooth structure..it stays black. And I doubt anyone from this website would promote the use of fluoride.
flouride doesn’t help much if at all… it’s all a bout the saliva. Dentists tend to coat the tooth to keep the tooth decaying
Fluoride is a neurotoxin and is the by-product of factories.
Its funny between the first and second picture, no change. The third photo is at a more horizontal angle and thus you can’t see the staining in the pits.
As a Registered Dental Hygienist, that works for a very conservative dentist, we do encourage patients with small cavities to try to remineralize before drilling into a tooth that might not need drilling, but what the readers have to keep in mind is, it does not work on all cavities!! Demineralization only works part of the time and the patient has to be very religious about home care and their diet. And I do have to agree with some of the other comments, the occlusal surfaces of the teeth do appear to have grinding wear on them with staining, cavities that size almost always cannot be remineralized, but I was not there during the research so I cannot discredit anyone, but please, please readers remember not all cavities can be “healed”
As a registered dental hygienist, I can confidently say that even if this was a cavity (I agree with the other hygienist’s comments of staining in a pit of the tooth), it is far too advanced to “heal itself.” There is research that shows a product called MI Paste can remineralize very very early lesions. However, these areas will still be weaker and more susceptible to decay again. I would like to know this bloggers credentials in dental sciences to be able to make such claims. I’m sorry that people can read and believe such things from someone who is not a professional. As a dental professional, I would LOVE to see decay heal itself. Unfortunately, this is not reality
Although I agree with you about people believing everything they read from others who are not necessarily qualified to give advice, I no longer blindly trust ‘professionals’ because the institutions in which they gain their ‘qualifications’ tend to do a lot of brainwashing and do not necessarily look at alternative ways of doing things which have actually proven to be successful, only because it goes against what they have been taught. I have a cavity and I will try to deal with it naturally, but if, in a year, it has not retreated, I shall have it filled … unfortunately.
I too am a dental hygienst and am not convinced this is decay. It could be, but looks more like stain. A bitewing radiograph would be more convicting. That being said, incipient caries can remineralize with proper treatment.
I’ve never had a cavity. I brush 2-3x a day religiously. I floss less religiously, but I do floss. I’ve used regular Crest my whole life. I eat a lot of sugar, I just brush after. I’m almost 40 – no root canals, no dental issues. I eat a healthy diet, overall, but I’m not like “raw vegan” / “paleo” or anything extreme. I do not consume a lot of dairy products. I am lactose intolerant.
I think a lot of it has to do with consistent care over a lifetime….not milk. Dairy has casein that can cause cancer…so….
I had a handful of cavities when young, whereas my sister never had a cavity growing up. Then she had four babies in 7 years, effectively breastfeeding for close to 6 years. I think she had more than half a dozen suddenly. I think it’s a little of everything: genes, diet, and care. My teeth have also been more yellow than hers since we were children. All well!
I have twice had a distinct cavity on the front of a tooth–a significant hole. I hadn’t gone to the dentist in a long time, so I was expecting to hear about it when I did. By then they had filled in! I wasn’t even eating that well at the time. I regret the few fillings I do have.
I am a registered dental hygienist and I would LOVE for this to be true. This image appears to be a stained pit on a tooth though. There is a hole, but it looks like one caused from grinding or wear rather than tooth decay. The pit looks stained in the first picture and cleaned out in the second. I see this all the time. I really hope to see decay heal on it’s own some day.
Karen, actually the discoloration in the teeth above *were acknowledged by a dentist to be cavities* before the healing process commenced. If you click through to the link above for the diet used to heal the cavities, the mother describes what dietary changes she made and that the problems were initially identified as caries by the child’s own dentist.
Sarah, it could very well be a mild cavity but we don’t have enough information here to offer a second opinion. I would prefer to see a much more pronounced example. Regardless, Karen’s experience when seeing this (and much worse) in her daily work cannot be overlooked.
From the other side of what your seeing I have had every dentist for about a decades now [ in my upper 50s] basically attack my teeth in dental exams damaging them. The last exam they were pushing so hard on my teeth that I almost got pushed out of the chair. Then not only did the dentist think it was funny but told me [despite my request otherwise] that she wanted to refer me to a dental surgeon to remove all my teeth and be fitted for full dentures [keep in mind not all my teeth even have cavities]. After doing some research I found there is a good chance that typical tooth paste is promoting tooth decay by coating teeth so I went outside the box so to speak and both of my split teeth have rematerialized partially [its been only a few months so far]. Most of the major brands have formulas that coat the teeth preventing them from collecting minerals they need to rebuild them selves. Its very sad that people are having to go outside the dental industry to help them selves.
I have a split tooth and am curious what paste you changed to instead if conventional toothpaste
Even the quote in the article says “incipient caries of ENAMEL” , if it has broached the enamel into the dentin, it will mushroom in the dentin. I agree that this looks like a stained pit or possibly pits from fluorosis.. I am an endodontist. Trust me…. I see teeth every single day that did not “heal”.
Please read the article. A dentist confirmed that cavities were present from the beginning.
The right dentist will say anything that suits their purpose. Like any other profession, not all are scrupulously honest. You know the commercials that say “4 out of 5 dentists recommend…”?? The way they do that is they ask a dentist “if your patient wanted to use product X, would you tell them no?” Assuming the product is not dangerous, the dentist will say “I would not tell them no”. Every now and then one dentist will say “I don’t like that product I think there are better ones and I would suggest that instead”.
The manufacturers translate that into ….. “4 out of 5 dentists recommend”….. when they did not really recommend the product at all.
Dear Sarah, if someone has a cavity drilled and filled with mercury, does the healing protocol work anyway? I mean, diet and supplements will be able to recover the teeth and expelling the amalgam by itself? Or is this unreal?
Thanks.
No, once a tooth is drilled it will not be able to heal naturally any longer.
Just IMHO from what I have seen in my own teeth but I think as long as the root is healthy its possible. Its also funny how a damaged tooth with spit out the filling once you stop coating your teeth with normal tooth paste residue.
I have heard several people mention using a r remineralizing toothpaste to assist with healing decay; any recommendations on brands? I am seeing several, but have no idea what makes a good product versus a bad product. Thanks in advance!
I actually healed a (very early not full blown) cavity using Sensodyne Pronamel (Sam’s club sells 3 tubes for about $10). My dentist DID tell me about tooth re-mineralization and recommended this toothpaste as well as a prescription strength toothpaste by Colgate called Prevident. With those two pastes and increasing to brushing twice per day. I had no sign of a cavity in 6 months
I have used Prevident to help repair cavities. The problem however is that it seems that dentists will no longer prescribe it. Funny how I ask for a toothpaste and get denied. I have had to resort to the internet to obtain it. if it doesn’t work, why not give it to people.