RE: tooth brushing and tooth decay

[Guest guest]

<< Hi, I was wondering about you families out there that have little or

no decay. How good are you about brushing your teeth? How often? How about

flossing and waterpicks? How about you with little ones that need this done

by an adult? Do you really brush their teeth EVERY night? Lets be honest

here and see if toothbrushing really matters. I know it probably has

EVERYTHING to do with diet. The toothbrush wasn't even invented until the

1790's.

Shari >>

Hi Shari,

We qualify as a family with little or no decay, I haven't got a clue why.

I'll give a little history if it helps. I am the youngest of three. Both

siblings have had LOTS of dental work of various kinds. I have had little

dental work except for an occasional cleaning and I have three fillings from

my late teen years. I've never had so much as a toothache (a little

sensitivity from time to time). I have two pinhole cavities from my teen

years (I'm 41 now) that have never been filled, but have never gotten any

bigger. My dentists have always remarked at my healthy teeth.

When my mother was pregnant with me, she had " morning " sickness all day

for nine months and ate almost nothing but raw potatoes, white bread toast

with lots of butter and drank gallons of hot black tea. I've absolutely

never seen my mother drink a glass of milk, but she's quite fond of

chocolate. Anyway, just trying to give you some background on my mother's

diet and how it didn't affect my teeth. Both of my parent have dentures.

My husband has dentures too. I have a son 19 and a daughter 16. Neither

one of them have ever had a cavity. They have had occasional cleanings and

VERY few x-rays. When I was a kid I wasn't much into tooth brushing and my

parents never once told me to brush my teeth. When I was a teenager and

close contact with other humans became more common, I began brushing my

teeth regularly (once a day) until now. I started brushing my kids teeth as

soon as they got some and they are very meticulous about oral hygiene. None

of us has done a whole lot of flossing, but some. We all use just plain old

toothbrushes. My nutrition during my pregnancy was relatively good. Not

doing NT way back then, but I gained forty pounds or so with each child, so

I was obviously was eating something...

I can't say you could draw any conclusions from any of what I've just told

you. Brushing vs.. not brushing, good eating vs.. not. From my personal

experience, I'd say tooth brushing is good simply because dirty teeth are

gross

Carmen

[Guest guest]

At 03:09 PM 4/9/2002 -0700, you wrote:

><< Hi, I was wondering about you families out there that have little or

>no decay. How good are you about brushing your teeth? How often? How about

>flossing and waterpicks? How about you with little ones that need this done

>by an adult? Do you really brush their teeth EVERY night? Lets be honest

>here and see if toothbrushing really matters. I know it probably has

>EVERYTHING to do with diet. The toothbrush wasn't even invented until the

>1790's.

I have very good teeth: my sisters do not. When I and my brother were

growing up my Dad fed us " bone meal pills " daily (oooh, we hated them) and

got us flouridated water, so our teeth would not be like our sisters.

Apparantly, it worked: or, it may have been what my Mom was eating while

pregnant.

Anyway, in the times in my life when I was eating little sugar, drinking

lots of tea, and eating few starches (I categorize starches by how fast

they make your teeth " mossy " -- some of them will never make your teeth

mossy, some do immediately) -- in those times the dentist never did much to

me when I did go in, and I wasn't great about brushing. When I eat more of

the " mossy " starches, then I get plaque. So I think diet has a LOT to do

with it.

On the other hand, both my kids have very bad teeth. I was very low on

minerals and pretty sick with both of them (From Celiac, probably: I didn't

know it at the time). They get cavities at the drop of a hat no matter how

much they brush.

Heidi Schuppenhauer

Trillium Custom Software Inc.

heidis@...

[Guest guest]

You fit with what I have seen. It seems that if one parent has good teeth, the

children do too. I know several families like this. I have 7 children and 6 of

them seemed doomed to tooth decay no matter what we do. My husband and I have

poor teeth. I have one daughter who is almost 7 years old and no decay. Same

house, same diet, same everything! The interesting thing is she looks totally

different than my other children. Six of my children are blondes, she is dark

haired and darker complected and generally the healthiest. We routinely see a

chiropractor and she rarely needs an adjustment. Could it be genetic and she was

lucky enough to receive the recessive genes in our family? Could it be blood

type? Just a very strong constitution? My diet was not good when pregnant with

her...nausea and low hemoglobin for most of it. In a way the tooth decay is a

blessing, it has kept me searching for the healthiest diet. Hopefully NT is it

and future generations will benefit.

Shari

----- Original Message -----

From: Carmen

Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2002 5:09 PM

Subject: RE: tooth brushing and tooth decay

<< Hi, I was wondering about you families out there that have little or

no decay. How good are you about brushing your teeth? How often? How about

flossing and waterpicks? How about you with little ones that need this done

by an adult? Do you really brush their teeth EVERY night? Lets be honest

here and see if toothbrushing really matters. I know it probably has

EVERYTHING to do with diet. The toothbrush wasn't even invented until the

1790's.

Shari >>

Hi Shari,

We qualify as a family with little or no decay, I haven't got a clue why.

I'll give a little history if it helps. I am the youngest of three. Both

siblings have had LOTS of dental work of various kinds. I have had little

dental work except for an occasional cleaning and I have three fillings from

my late teen years. I've never had so much as a toothache (a little

sensitivity from time to time). I have two pinhole cavities from my teen

years (I'm 41 now) that have never been filled, but have never gotten any

bigger. My dentists have always remarked at my healthy teeth.

When my mother was pregnant with me, she had " morning " sickness all day

for nine months and ate almost nothing but raw potatoes, white bread toast

with lots of butter and drank gallons of hot black tea. I've absolutely

never seen my mother drink a glass of milk, but she's quite fond of

chocolate. Anyway, just trying to give you some background on my mother's

diet and how it didn't affect my teeth. Both of my parent have dentures.

My husband has dentures too. I have a son 19 and a daughter 16. Neither

one of them have ever had a cavity. They have had occasional cleanings and

VERY few x-rays. When I was a kid I wasn't much into tooth brushing and my

parents never once told me to brush my teeth. When I was a teenager and

close contact with other humans became more common, I began brushing my

teeth regularly (once a day) until now. I started brushing my kids teeth as

soon as they got some and they are very meticulous about oral hygiene. None

of us has done a whole lot of flossing, but some. We all use just plain old

toothbrushes. My nutrition during my pregnancy was relatively good. Not

doing NT way back then, but I gained forty pounds or so with each child, so

I was obviously was eating something...

I can't say you could draw any conclusions from any of what I've just told

you. Brushing vs.. not brushing, good eating vs.. not. From my personal

experience, I'd say tooth brushing is good simply because dirty teeth are

gross

Carmen