Cure Tooth Decay: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition (First Edition) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

I noticed some deterioration in my teeth last year, so I started searching online to find out whether anyone knew anything about healing teeth. I found Rami's website and decided to buy his book. Although I had heard of Weston Price and Nourishing Traditions before, it was through Rami's book that I really came face to face with that information. It made a lot of sense to me. Especially thought-provoking for me was Rami's message to vegetarians (I had been one for 15 years). It was also helpful that he had actually set down a dietary protocol whose specific objective is to help teeth heal, which Dr. Price reportedly did not do. The protocol is challenging for me, but I have been introducing elements of it to the best of my ability.

Then I lost a filling. The first dentist I saw diagnosed decay and a probable need for a root canal, and said that the tooth might already be dead. Her pronouncement caused me untold agony over the next several weeks. Then a holistic dentist determined that the tooth is alive and recognized that it has totally re-enamelized. He simply replaced the lost filling. He told me I am lucky, because most people are not able to get their teeth to re-enamelize like that. Well, I am now a believer. Nourishing Traditions is for real, and it was with Rami's explanation and guidance that I found a way to help my body contain the damage in my teeth. My relief at this outcome is immeasurable.

We have been conditioned to believe that the only opinions worth having are those that come from people who have been formally trained and licensed, but I believe that formal training can be restricted and biased, and does not necessarily consider all possibilities. Here is the work of someone who questions the knee-jerk assumptions of the industry and who has taken the trouble to do the research and the self-experimentation in an effort to find a better way. I am very appreciative that Rami has chosen to share his findings, relieving us from each having to go through the whole process of trial and error from scratch. And he brings some much-needed balance to a subject that is approached by so many from a place of fear.

Why is our modern society so plagued by tooth decay? Did indigenous people from primitive cultures suffer as we do, with rotting teeth? Knowing the cause of the problem is always the first step in correcting it. Ramiel Nagel, in this book about curing tooth decay, addresses these questions and much more. Ramiel does an excellent job exposing the root of the problem. He explains the difference between true prevention and just temporarily treating the symptoms.

The author is not a doctor or a dentist, but became intensely interested in the subject of curing tooth decay due to his young daughter's badly decaying teeth. This situation caused him to be fearful and it was this fear and his love for his daughter which motivated him to find a solution to his daughter's pain and suffering.

I have come to learn through much negative experience with the mainstream medical system, that knowledge acquired through medical school, which is mostly funded by the drug companies and other corporations, is not designed to serve the public's best interests. It is instead designed for profit. Discouraging natural preventative and curative treatments, while promoting only symptomatic treatments, allows the disease process to progress underneath the surface and provides an avenue for future profits. Ramiel Nagel reveals how this conundrum is especially relevant to modern dental care. I love the following example he uses to illustrate this concept.

" In this example, imagine that a tooth is an orange. Imagine a rotting orange, with a small moldy spot. The moldy spot is equivalent to tooth decay. The equivalent of a dentist placing a dental filling would be removing the moldy spot with a knife and filling the spot with glue. Once the mold is removed, the decay process temporarily slows down. A few more days sitting out, and another moldy spot forms. This is just like how, over time, tooth decay continues to progress even after you get a filling." Ramiel travels a bit farther with this comparison, including the root canal procedure.

The author's purpose in writing this book is to share information with readers which will aide them in taking responsibility for their own dental care and for the dental care of their children. Nagel has researched the groundbreaking works of Dr. Weston Price, a dentist who traveled the world, comparing the health of indigenous people eating their native diets, to those in or near the cities who were consuming refined foods. Dr. Weston Price found, without exception, that those eating the unrefined natural foods had very strong constitutions, moral character and well formed facial and jaw structure. Their health was so excellent that there was no need for doctors or prisons. Those eating the denatured foods, in the more "civilized" areas, had to deal with deformed sinus and jaw structure, rotting teeth, increased crime and increased susceptibility to infectious disease.

Nagel stresses the importance of fat soluble vitamins and activators. He explains what they are and what foods supply them. Activators are natural substances, which are not usually present in our modernized diets. They are needed to aide the absorption of important vitamins and minerals. He talks about the importance of eating some foods raw and fermented, including dairy products and organ meats. Fish liver oil also plays an important role in dental and overall skeletal health.

The book provides a daily guideline or protocol for curing and preventing tooth decay. Ramiel lists the foods which are important in helping to form strong teeth and bones. He also lists food to avoid. He tells us it is not possible to regrow a whole tooth but decay can be stopped and hard dentin can be formed over the pulp of a decayed tooth, which prevents pain and the need for a root canal. Our body's calcium phosphorus ratio needs to be in balance and so do our blood sugar levels. I'd like to include one more quote from page 37 of "Cure Tooth Decay"

"The longer your blood sugar is out of balance, and the greater the imbalance, the more the calcium and phosphorus ratios are altered, and thus the higher the likelihood of tooth decay. This explains why frequent snacking on sugar causes significant decay; the blood sugar remains out of balance for a longer period of time, causing more calcium to be removed from the bones. This also illustrates that even natural sugars from fruits, natural sweeteners, and alcohols can contribute to tooth decay. All of them can place the blood sugar level out of balance."

Nagel also includes discussion on root canals, fillings, the dangers of fluoride, xrays and a special section on children's dental health. I found this book to be packed with helpful common sense information. I will keep it close by as a personal guide to not only achieving superior dental health but also general overall health. Our teeth are one of the outward visible manifestations of the internal balance and health of the body.

Ramiel Nagel has no conflicts of interest, no products to sell, except his book, which he hopes will reach and help many overcome and prevent tooth decay. This is a very different type of health book, written from the heart. The information provided is rooted in trial and error experience along with extensive research into the works of Dr.Weston Price, dentist Melvin Page, anthropologist Leon Abrams, and others. The dietary advice put forth in this book is not only crucial for preventing tooth decay but for preserving the health of the human race.

When his daughter's teeth began rapidly decaying, the author embarked on a journey to find a solution. Through the writtings of Weston A. Price and Marvin Page, and his own experimentation, he found that tooth decay can be prevented or stopped by diet.

The book starts with a brief denunciation of modern dental notions then reviews the work of Price and Page, paying special attention to their recommendations on diet. Next the author presents his own recommendations on diet (including both the "best" protocol and an alternate vegetarian protocol). The book continues with more detailed discussion of tooth decay, dentistry, and prevention of childhood tooth decay.

Being based on large part on the work of Price and Page, the book's main theme and basic findings are solid, but the author, while railing against modern dental theories that, in his assessment, parade as "science" demonstrates his own poor understanding of the subject matter and inadequate critical thinking skills. As a result, the book is of somewhat dubious value.

For example, on page 6, he rails against the supposed contradiction of the "experts" by quoting the website of the American Dental Association in which they state that tooth decay is caused by sugars and starches in our foods that contact our teeth and PROMOTE bacterial growth. He then quotes the Sugar Association's website where they say that sugar DISABLES bacterial growth. He states, "Basically, what I am saying is that if you leave a bowl of white flour and sugar outside next to a piece of raw fish, in a few hours or days the fish will be ridden with bacteria while the flour and sugar remain the same, nearly impervious to bacterial destruction." He neglects to notice that the DRY item remains while the one with moisture is the one that decays. Drying foods has long been a method of preserving them. (Beef jerky, anyone?)

He also makes some mistakes in summarizing the research of Weston Price. For example, on page 27, he lists the principle sources of fat-soluble vitamins that Price identified in the diets of indigenous groups immune to tooth decay. He states that the third source is "Organs of land animals." In fact, Price names the sources in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration which on page 282 lists the third source as, "the organs of animals, and the eggs of birds, wild and domesticated." While few Americans eat organ meats, the vast majority do eat eggs, making this omission non-trivial.

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with Page's research, so I cannot comment on how accurately the author portrayed this research.

Pros:

* The idea that tooth decay can be halted or prevented by diet, coming from the research of Price and Page, is an important idea to get across to people, and this is the book's main point.
* The book is engaging.
* The author's own experience with diet and tooth decay and what he has found to work for his family and others is useful.

Cons:

* The author's lack of clear thinking and resultant logical mistakes.
* While the author ridicules the idea that bacteria are the cause of tooth decay, he fails to realize they do in fact play a role, if not the most critical one.

Rather than reading this book, I would recommend reading Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Price and perhaps a book by Page. If you can get this book at a library, you may find chapter 4, in which the author presents his dietary recommendations, thought provoking.