I have to say, I absolutely hate going to the dentist and anything teeth related. Tooth problems just seem to be such a big deal to me. Maybe I'm being overly dramatic, but I wish it was something I didn't have to deal with. Not to mention, teeth are EXPENSIVE!
I had one cavity growing up. It was in a baby tooth and the dentist wasn't concerned with it since it was going to fall out. It did, and I never had another one my whole childhood and into adulthood. I was always told my teeth were very strong. My mom was really good about taking us every six months for dental checkups and cleanings, and going into being an adult I still kept up. I had a checkup when I was 19, teeth looked great, went on Acutane for 6 months, came back to the dentist and had NINE cavities. Coincidence? Nope. Acutane actually ruins your enamel. One of the lovely side effects of possibly the most toxic chemicals I've ever put into my body. I wish I had known at the time, I would have never gone on it for that and so many other reasons.
I spent that entire summer I turned twenty getting filling after filling. I was able to get white fillings which were fairly new. I'm glad at least that I didn't get a mouth full of mercury! Fast forward about 6 years into my fillings. I went for a cleaning and was told I had some decay under the fillings which were now failing. Another two years went by before I finally went and got x-rays to see how bad everything was and what I needed to do to fix it. At this point I was told I needed a root canal. This was all at the cusp of being very sick and starting to change my lifestyle to a much healthier one.
Within a few months of that appointment I saw a naturopath who greatly encouraged me to look into alternatives because root canals can be toxic to your health. I started researching it and completely agreed that a root canal wasn't an option for me. My naturopath actually had me start taking a supplement called biodent which is a pretty amazing support for your mouth! I decided to drag my feet once again, so along with a healthy diet, I took the biodent and also started oil pulling. If you've never heard of oil pulling, it's pretty amazing. Even if you're not trying to heal tooth decay, it's awesome for getting rid of bad bacteria and promoting overall health for your mouth.
To oil pull you'll start with a tablespoon size amount of coconut oil. Put it in your mouth and start swishing it around. Everything I've read says 20 minutes, but you most likely won't be able to do it for twenty minutes the first few times. I couldn't! Anything to start is good. Work your way up to 20 minutes if you can. I feel like doing it for 7 or 10 is better than nothing! You can do this once a day or numerous times a day.... depends if you've got bad decay or not. Make sure when you're finished you spit it out in the trash instead of the sink or toilet. I talked to a holistic dentist about oil pulling and he's all for it. He gave me one great piece of advise that nobody else told me. When you're finished oil pulling, rinse your mouth out with salt water. It makes such perfect sense since you're literally pulling out all that bacteria and it's technically still just sitting in your mouth even after you spit out the oil. This will eliminate all that nasty bacteria you've worked so hard to get out!
After years of putting it off, I FINALLY saw a holistic dentist. He's very used to people avoiding root canals, even to the point of having teeth pulled out over getting one. He x-rayed my teeth and said I actually have fantastic teeth and some of the filling I have he wouldn't even have done in the first place. The two most decayed teeth (one of which I was told I needed a root canal on) weren't as bad as the other dentist made them sound. The holistic dentist said he's seen much worse that were salvaged and didn't need root canals. We decided to do overlays on both of those teeth. I've had one done so far & am going back for the second one soon. I'm really glad that I found an alternative treatment to something I would have regretted. Our teeth are a very important to our health and to live. It's important to take good care of them and make informed decisions about what we do to them.
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