Can Teeth Heal? Judi’s Story
At the beginning of 2020, one night, while brushing her teeth before bed, my 5-year-old daughter mentioned to me that one of her teeth hurt. I took a look and saw a big piece missing out of one of her molars! I hid my concern so she would not worry, applied some essential oils to her jaw to help the pain, and sent her to sleep with the essential oil roller bottle tucked under her pillow if she woke up with pain during the night. When she was in bed, I started researching all the things I could do to help her tooth and decided to search for a more natural-minded pediatric dentist in our area.
Because of the way her tooth had chipped, I feared the gum and pulp were exposed, meaning if infection were to occur, it could pass to the bloodstream and jeopardize the health of her entire body. Usually, when a tooth is in pain, it is due to the pulp being exposed because it is directly connected to the nervous system.
The next day I scheduled an appointment at the dentist for her—the first dental appointment of her young life because she had never had any tooth problems before—and continued to manage her tooth pain with essential oils.
At the dentist appointment, I found out her tooth’s condition was just as bad as I had feared. While the dentist suggested natural remedies and nutrition for supporting the health of her gums and teeth, she also said we needed to schedule a tooth extraction. This included putting my daughter under anesthesia to prevent the possibility of infection that could enter the bloodstream, as I had suspected.
We scheduled the tooth extraction tentatively for a month in the future, but I was very concerned about putting my little girl under anesthesia in the back of my mind. I decided to do everything in my power to avoid the need for her tooth to be extracted. Her tooth extraction was scheduled for April 2020. Then COVID hit, and non-emergency dental and doctor appointments were canceled to prevent the spread of illness.
I breathed a sigh of relief because that meant I had more time to work on supporting her tooth at home! After her first dental appointment, I had a conversation with Judi, explaining we needed to make many changes in her diet and oral hygiene routine to prevent further procedures at the dentist. She had not enjoyed her first dental appointment at all, so she was willing to do whatever she needed to do for her teeth at home.
We put together a plan and made a chart to check off each part of her diet and oral hygiene routine every day. Here is what we included in her daily oral care:
no sugary foods
no conventional dairy or gluten (raw dairy and grass-fed butter were OK)
brush and floss twice a day
essential oil-based disinfectant mouthwash three times a day
gum with xylitol after every meal (to remove food and bacteria stuck on teeth)
herbal formula to support tooth health twice a day
homeopathic remedies Calcarea Fluorica and Calcarea Phosphorica twice a day (away from products containing mint)
vitamin D3/K2 drops every morning
omega-3 supplement daily
It is obvious why we removed sugary foods from her diet because sugar activates bacteria that break down tooth enamel. We even cut back her fruit intake temporarily to one fruit serving per day to aggressively change her mouth environment.
Conventional dairy and gluten indirectly affect the health of our teeth by contributing to inflammation and leaky gut. A leaky gut makes it harder for the body to utilize the foods we eat. When the gut can no longer absorb nutrients, the body cannot use those nutrients to rebuild tooth enamel. My daughter’s dentist suggested removing these foods from her diet because the entire body is connected, and what affects one part affects the whole.
Raw dairy and grass-fed butter, on the other hand, are easier to digest because the enzymes that naturally occur in them have not been overheated and destroyed by pasteurization. Grass-fed butter, in particular, is one of the only foods that contains vitamin K2, which is a key component in building healthy teeth. Beef liver, chicken, and cheese are good sources of vitamin K2.
The essential oil-based disinfectant mouthwash was a vital part of my daughter’s daily routine because we needed to prevent the possibility of infection. When the pulp is exposed, infection in the mouth can quickly travel to other parts of the body through the bloodstream. Our dentist even prescribed antibiotics just in case my daughter started running a fever. But she never did, and we were able to avoid infection just fine with consistent use of the mouthwash.
Herbal remedies play a significant role in preventing bacterial growth on the teeth and provide some of the vitamins and minerals needed for healthy teeth. Every night we put a dropper of an herbal tincture containing black walnut hull, peppermint, white oak, marshmallow root, and horsetail directly on her molars before she swished and swallowed it.
The homeopathic remedies listed above also help provide the body with the building blocks of healthy teeth while minimizing tooth and gum pain. Mint products negate homeopathic remedies’ effects, so we always take them separately for the best results.
After just a few days of our rigorous dental health routine, my daughter told me her tooth was no longer in pain. After a few months, the chip in her tooth had grown considerably smaller! Our dental health routine was a serious commitment and was not easy to stay consistent with, but the results made it all worthwhile. Judi did not have to have her tooth pulled, did not develop any infection, and protected all of her teeth’ integrity in the process. When a severe health problem presents itself, we must match the severity with an equally aggressive natural health protocol. When we do, the results speak for themselves!