I wonder why all the people around the same age as me (22) have good looking teeth while I don't. No Durianrider, you can't come and say everyone has got dental crowns this time ;)
I think I've always had a little yellowy teeth compared to others but since becoming raw vegan it has gotten much worse. Some of the enamel has eroded off on two teeth and they are getting a little translucent. Also they got a little chipped. And there is some brownish/yellowish discoloration near the gums on some places. My mother got really worried about my teeth when she saw this.
I did eat a lot of dates in the first year so I think that may have contributed. So I assume sugar sticking to the teeth is one cause for dental problems? And my teeth feel very sensitive after eating about 10 clementines in one sitting. So I guess acid is another cause? Even apples seem to be harsh on the teeth. And too much acidity may of course be due to the fruit not being perfectly ripe, but most fruits are virtually impossible to get perfectly ripe.
I have been eating on head of lettuce everyday (about 500 grams) since starting this diet (1½ years ago) and I have recently doubled that amount which seems to help a little.
But the thing is, it's ridiculous that I, who eat more fruit in one day than the average person eats in a week, have worse teeth. I must be getting much more vitamins and minerals than they do. Should one really have to eat huge amounts of lettuce to compensate for the damage that the fruit may be causing? Or is it simply better to cut down on the fruit?
There aren't really many fruits that I can eat around here (Sweden) if I was to cut down on dates and citrus, which seem to be the fruits causing teeth problems. I consume dates in smoothie-form, but even then I can feel the sugar sticking to my teeth (even though not nearly as much as eating whole dates). I really don't eat a lot of citrus but even the small amounts I eat seem to cause problems. Bananas and dates are my staples, and sometimes I eat pears, mangoes, persimmons, melons, apples, citrus, etc., depending on season.
FYI, I do eat raw til 4 and have been doing it mostly for the last year. Should I eat raw til lunch instead since fruit seem to be causing problems?
Then there's brushing.. I always get confused as to when you should brush and how often. They always say you shouldn't brush directly after eating fruit. But brushing before feels useless since the teeth are basically all clean. And now I eat lettuce after the fruit at breakfast so that kind of does some of the cleaning. It feels like brushing actually contributes to eroding the enamel, even if you don't do it directly after eating fruit. I mean you brush two times every day for your whole life. It feels like that can eventually do some damage.
Sorry for long post, I just had a lot on my mind about this.
Replies
I've tried it and it has improved my teeth, as for my sister, my mother and my father (who aren't vegan yet, but they surely will one day :) )
that sounds interesting! i have amla powder, so it's basically amla and green tea powder? what kind of essential oil are you adding?
it is tricky to know what ripe fruit is but that is a huge factor in teeth health and health in general. fruit should be super duper sweet with no hint of sourness at all, that is ripe fruit. eating 2-6% of your calories from tender greens or 1/2 to 2 pounds of greens a day of lettuce or celery is a very good insurance plan for most of us that don't have access to the best quality fruits and eating a few bites of those after your fruit can help with sensitive teeth, the lower quality of fruit the more greens needed.
plaque hardens after 12 hours on our teeth, so brushing and flossing 3 times daily is ideal. use a super soft bristle brush. swish really well with water or a green juice after eating. the good results people see with oil pulling may well be from the swishing.
so I would be vigilant with oral hygiene, increase my greens and use greens after every meal (fruit or otherwise), and be super careful with only eating ripe fruits. bananas are the closest food to meeting all of our human nutritional needs in the right ratios, so if you are getting lots of those with plenty of greens you are doing better than most nutrition wise.
you did not mention your vitamin D which is very important for teeth health, are you able to get lots of sun during the year or do you have a light box or vitamin D lamp or access to tanning beds or take supplements?
great info, here and here on vitamin D. if supplementing, 5000 IU daily is recommend by the council for most adults, and for those with deficiency many recommend 10,000IU daily for a month then down to 5000IU daily. and vitamin D2 has been found to be just as effective as D3, there is a myth floating around that it is not.
Thanks a lot!
Lol, I actually forgot that it's getting darker here and I need to start supplementing vitamin D (although the body can store it for a while, right? And I think I had sufficient during the summer).
Regarding brushing, do you recommend waiting about 30 minutes after eating? And is there any point in for instance eating greens after a meal if you're gonna brush them anyways?
Since the quality/ripeness of the fruit isn't that great here in Sweden it sounds like it would make sense to substitute for more cooked food (I don't think the quality of the lettuce is that great either). When it comes to bananas, they don't really taste that great. I mostly blend them up but that isn't ideal since you don't produce much saliva then since you're not really chewing, right?
ya saliva is important for digestion, you can chew your smoothies, that is let it sit or swish in your mouth for a few bites worth of time.
D is stored for a few months in our bodies but those living very far from the equator may have low levels even with summer exposure. if you get down south a few times in the winter you may be fine. it would be good to get your D levels checked via a blood test.
many people say to wait a half hour after eating to brush so it is probably a good idea, I would still eat the greens right after though.
can you grow your own greens? do you ever get to the tropics where you can taste real good fruit so you know what your looking for? I hate to say to skip fruit for cooked but you should do what you think is right. What has more nutrition and digests best?
I don't really believe in chewing your smoothies, it's not the same thing at all. I don't think it helps that much :P
I think I had my D levels checked at the end of the summer, and they were fine (although "fine" in Sweden may not be fine in countries more to the south. I think my doctor said that all swedes have low vitamin D. I don't know if they're using that as reference when judging what is fine or too low).
I can grow my own greens, during like 3 months of the year, which isn't much :P Besides the ones you buy from growers in Sweden is already better than the foreign ones are now off season.
Haven't been to the tropics. Would be a good idea to know what you're looking for though. But what is the difference really, when it comes to fruits that ripen after it has been picked. To my understanding, even if you're in a tropical place, you still pick the fruit when it's unripe so the bugs won't swarm the fruit before you can take it home. My plan is to move to a tropical country in a few years though. Gotta hang in til then :p
Yeah, I'm looking for what fulfills my nutrition needs and works for digestion. Surprisingly potatoes are equal to bananas in overall nutrition according to cronometer, but there many factors that can be misleading I guess, like targets which aren't set up properly. A problem with transitioning back to cooked food is that the body is going from clean to less clean, which messes up digestion, but I hope it will work out as the body gets used to it.
unripe fruit can cause teeth problems.. and rinsing your mouth, as far as dried fruit, that's only a problem because it's sticky and sticks to your teeth.
Rinsing your mouth with water can cause teeth problems? Was that what you meant?
sorry no i meant not rinsing them..
too many dried fruits are not ideal for the teeth.. have more leafy greens, also celery is amazing for teeth! if tge citrus fruit is ripe it won't cauise any teeth problems :)