Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Is there a way to clean hardened plaque from teeth other than going to then dentist? I'm beyond the point where baking soda works.

edited Dec 26 2011 at 8:22

Paul
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asked Dec 26 2011 at 0:31

Paleo Alec
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I don't know what variety of paleo you subscribe to, but when I stick to fatty cuts of meat, organs, fish, butter, crunchy veggies like carrots and celery, and low oxylate leafy greens (avoiding the ones that make my teeth feel furry) I get almost no plaque. Add in a banana here, a serving of chard or spinach there, and I start to notice the plaque forming again. – Happy Now Dec 26 2011 at 8:11

coprophagous · Answer 1 · 2011-12-26 21:13:14Z UTC

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Go to walmart, by a dental hygiene kit. use the tools in the kit to remove your plaque. I have done this for years. i also polish my shoes rather than buy new ones. I cut my own hair. I sharpen my electric shaver blades. i brew my own wine. i fix my own flat tires (kits at walmart), i built my own house. I am one cheap bastard. i will even eat paleo food rather than pay doctor bills.

answered Dec 26 2011 at 21:13

coprophagous
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100+ for all cheap bastards in the world – Celton Dec 27 2011 at 2:18

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This post is brilliant – Bill1102inf Dec 27 2011 at 4:30

Let me ask you, if you don't buy new shoes, what do you do with worn out back heels? It will cost more to replace them. Why not just go to Walmart and buy a pair of new Dr. Scholl's shoes for $24.99, instead of walking around with worn out heels? – Namby Pamby Dec 27 2011 at 5:23

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Who wears shoes? – Deus Invictus Mar 20 2012 at 21:22

Bill1102inf · Answer 2 · 2011-12-26 01:10:39Z UTC

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You can purchase dental picks from the store for a few bucks and scrape it off, but it would be best to go to a dentist.

answered Dec 26 2011 at 1:10

Bill1102inf
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This is what I've done for years. Works great. I always get compliments from the dentist. – Seiji Dec 26 2011 at 3:54

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I was amazed that I could pick up a little curved metal scraper much like what the dentist uses for under 3 dollars, and it works wonders on the backs of my front teeth where I seem to collect plaque far faster than anywhere else. – Happy Now Dec 26 2011 at 8:06

Daniel Kirsner · Answer 3 · 2011-12-26 00:42:27Z UTC

Why not go to a dentist? If money, many dentists offer 1st time cleaning rates of around $50, and many university-affiliated dental schools feature low-cost services. Also look for free clinics in your area, and check Craigslist for students seeking patients for licensure exams...

tatty · Answer 4 · 2011-12-26 02:11:25Z UTC

I still go to the hygienist occasionally to get my teeth cleaned. Not cheap but I've never managed to get anything close to the amount of plaque my hygienist removes. I would really recommend talking to your dentist if it is a big concern. Better diet and dental habits make the need for visits less I find but it makes a big difference to get a helping hand every so often.

Heath · Answer 5 · 2011-12-26 03:48:59Z UTC

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Try bentonite clay or zeolite powder. It, combined with some essential oils, will do a killer cleaning and detox from the inside out.

answered Dec 26 2011 at 3:48

Heath
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Bentonite Clay can have near 20% Aluminum in it..... still sure its a good idea to ingest it? – Bill1102inf Dec 27 2011 at 4:29

wildwabbit · Answer 6 · 2011-12-26 02:15:57Z UTC

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Once it becomes plaque you are fairly powerless to do anything yourself and really need a dental hygienist. Go to the dentist, get it taken care of, then keep your teeth clean from then on!

answered Dec 26 2011 at 2:15

wildwabbit
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Michael · Answer 7 · 2012-08-02 16:00:55Z UTC

Perfectly clean teeth with vitamin K2. I've stopped going to the dentist for teeth cleaning altogether. Adding vitamin K2 -- the MK-4 from Thorne Labs -- cleaned the calcified krud off the back of my lower front teeth in 2 days! Truly amazing! Now my teeth are smooth and clean all the time. I just brush my teeth once a day (I don't drink coffee or tea, no stains.) I'm saving good money without the dentist 2x year. I learned about it from Richard Nikolay at Free the Animal. (Read down near the bottom) The vitamin K2 is a hard to get vitamin, even if you eat the best pastured eggs, butter and organ meats. It's the 'X-Factor' that Dr. Weston A. Price discovered. It puts the minerals where they are supposed to go, instead of calcifying your arteries and joints. Be sure to get the MK-4 version of vitamin K2. And even though the Thorne bottle costs alot up front, you only need several drops a day -- so the bottle will last you all year. Bottomline: if we get all the nutrients we really need, our body should be clean and smell good -- like all primitive people were.

More: read Chris Masterjohn on Vitamin K2. More: read Stephen buyenet on Vitamin K2.

Namby Pamby · Answer 8 · 2011-12-26 05:32:50Z UTC

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For plaque, I think you should be able to remove it daily by brushing either with regular (i.e., fluoride containing) or organic toothpaste. More important is to floss, which is de rigueur anyway if you eat beef or berries. Based on my survey, only a tiny minority of the population (~5%) knows how to floss and does so daily. I did not learn how to floss properly until I became a committed beefeater a few years ago.

My main dental concern is not with the plaque but with tea and coffee stains that are hard to remove. According to my dentist, there's no reliable way of removing tea stains from your teeth other than to continue to see him every 6 months(!) I drink about 5 cups of green and black tea everyday and the cost of all that polyphenols is my permanently brown teeth. It's even worse in the back of my teeth.

edited Dec 26 2011 at 5:32

answered Dec 26 2011 at 5:16

Namby Pamby
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Fluoride is a very nasty neurotoxin. It's a waste product from aluminum, fertilizer, nuclear industries. It's a very bad idea to expose yourself to it, even in small amounts. While conventional wisdom claims that it will strengthen bones and teeth, a better way is to avoid carbs/sugar instead, and fluoride has been shown to weaken teeth through molting. If you realize that magnesium oil, nicotine, Dramamine patches, etc. can be absorbed through your skin, imagine how more readily stuff things get absorbed when you put them in your mouth, or actually drink them! – raydawg Dec 26 2011 at 15:45

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You might want to just switch to drinking green and white teas. They're less staining. Also, I agree about the flossing. You need to move the floss up and down the sides of each tooth, as far down into the gums as you can, in order to remove debris. Just running it horizontally between your teeth won't do much good. – Nemesis Dec 26 2011 at 18:57

My opinion is that green tea is more staining than black tea. White tea I sometimes drink also. I continue to refine my flossing skills. For the first 2 years, I really didn't know what I was doing. Yes, you have get the string all the way back, and to do that, you have learn how to wrap the floss around your thumbs or index fingers and move the fingers to reach all the way back. It's an art and it can be tedious but it's well worth it if you eat beef and raspberries/blackberries like I do. – Namby Pamby Dec 27 2011 at 5:16

Finding a Paleo alternative to conventional toothpaste is my next task: I've been examining baking soda but have not yet read any authoritative position on this. What do you suggest? – Namby Pamby Dec 27 2011 at 5:18

What's with flossing and beef? Beef doesn't get stuck in my teeth, and only carbs can ferment in the mouth and cause cavities. I think. – Dan Dec 30 2011 at 23:08

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Fonda · Answer 9 · 2011-12-30 14:05:54Z UTC

I am one that does not like to have any chemicals on me or in me. I am also one that is not up for paying to have the dentist sit and argue with me over my choices in health. They always want to give me fluoride - which is in fact rat poison and a neurotoxin as @raydawg said above. The dentist, just like your doctor believes conventional wisdom. I know I sound crazy, sorry.

I stopped using toothpaste awhile back. I just use a bar of non glycerin soap and brush away. My teeth have never felt so clean. I am seeing a huge amount of my plaque just come off, I only have 3 teeth that I can still see it on and the area is getting smaller! I came across this book “Good teeth, birth to death” by Dr. Judd. Dr. Judd explains that when we brush our teeth with conventional tooth paste that the glycerin in the toothpaste (all have it, even organic ones) coats are teeth. This is what the glycerin is there to do, protect the teeth from stains. However, if you have this coat of ‘gunk’ (if you will), on your teeth then your enamel will not regrow. So then your teeth are just getting beat up, then covered with a thin barrier wall. Sure this barrier wall is great, but it is not natural and has adverse side effects. If you have a layer of glycerin on your teeth they can not repair themselves, thus you get sensitive teeth or cavities or rot. And the fluoride in your toothpaste it not helping.

Long story short the book is great if you are really interested in your teeth's health. It is a free book too. If you are interested in what I am doing /have done I wrote on my page about it and am tracking my progress with photos of my teeth. I really have been shocked by the amount of money I am saving (my bar of toothsoap barley has a dent into it 1/2 a year in), I have no sensativity anymore and my teeth are getting whiter.

This might not be a fast way to get rid of the plaque you have.. but it might be the most natural and gentle. Let me know if you have questions about it.. :)

primallykosher · Answer 10 · 2011-12-26 03:56:14Z UTC

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The following rates if you don't have dental insurance tend to be around 200 bucks a visit. Add an extra 100 for x rays.

answered Dec 26 2011 at 3:56

primallykosher
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Paleo Alec · Answer 11 · 2011-12-26 15:23:37Z UTC

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I am going to scrape up the funds to go to the dentist. $50.00 is not that expensive unless you have been out of work for almost 3 years and unemployment ran out 6 months ago

answered Dec 26 2011 at 15:23

Paleo Alec
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Don't forget, most dentists insist on taking x-rays when you first see them. The same one, too, if your x-rays are more than 2Y old. That will run up bills. And then the cleaning. Thank god, I have an honest dentist. Finding an honest dentist who will not run up bills on you is like finding an honest automechanic. There ain't that many. – Namby Pamby Dec 27 2011 at 5:20

Mell · Answer 12 · 2012-08-02 11:23:22Z UTC

There are so many ways to clean plaque on teeth. but are you sure that's plaque? because little yellowness are not plaque it could be stain. I suggest that if your front teeth are intemperately plaqued than your back teeth must be easily get calculus. You have to brushing regularly by pepsodent g toothpaste.

Plaque on teeth

Olga · Answer 13 · 2012-08-02 16:15:17Z UTC

No one has mentioned this yet, I've noticed huge improvement in removing and preventing plaque since swishing a homemade sole solution for a couple minutes each day. Sole is basically just when you keep adding sea salt to water until the water stops absorbing it, about a 25% concentration.

Here's some instruction on how to make it if anyone is interested: http://www.theoliveparent.com/2010/07/sole-magic-of-water-and-salt.html/

I've been using Celtic Sea Salt rather than Himalayan Pink Salt because it's what I had, and it works equally well.

Cleaning plaque from teeth?

13 Answers