Can't take it anymore. Need some advice, please!

[Kimmiepie]

Our family is so cavity prone. I'm just at my wits end!!!

All my life I have had "bad teeth" and gotten cavities very easily. Of course I grew up eating packaged/fast foods. When our 3rd child was born we changed our diet. We started eating organic, drinking raw milk, etc. All the meals (except on rare occasions) are cooked from scratch at home. They/we still get occasional treats, birthday cakes etc. and the grandparents always give them junk when they visit.

We cut out fluoride several years ago as well and switched to more "natural" toothpastes.

Well, I have at *least* (b/c this was as of 3 years ago) 7 cavities. I know that several of them are so bad that they are going to require crowns, perhaps even one or two extracts. I'm just not sure.

Last year DD had 7 (I believe) cavities and some abcessed teeth. She had to have one pulled, several crowns, and some fillings.

Last year DS1 had 4 cavities that he had filled.

Now we just took our 4 year old in today and he has 7 cavities (seems to be the magic number). He will need 2 crows and 5 fillings.

I am just so sick of this!!! Mine is going to cost thousands of dollars which is why I haven't been yet, and I need to sooo badly. DS's insurance will only cover up to $425 a year, so it is going to cost us over $500 out of pocket! We don't have the money for this! He's in pain and he needs it, but where is this money going to come from???

Why are our teeth so bad? There's got to be something we can do!! Do we need to just go raw? Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. I just want to cry right now.

[organicmidwestmama]

i donnu, i grew up with NO processed foods and vegan and has 25 cavs by the time i was 2. i am not kidding, unfortunately. it sucks, my childhood cavities are still affecting me, as ive had them into adulthood too.

[tanyalynn]

What do you think of the general WAP idea of nutrition and dental health?

It looks good to me, except, the way the WAPF writes about it, it doesn't take into account pre-existing health issues. I try to cook WAP-y, but I also supplement most of the nutrients because my health is impaired and I think the kids are at higher risk of dental issues, and other health issues, than the typical kid.

Something easy--a vitamin D supp if you don't already use one.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.co...oth-decay.html

Maybe this will suggest new ideas? Though really, with the health stresses that have gotten so much worse in some families since Price's time, I still really think nutritional supplements really can be appropriate and even necessary.

We eat very little raw food because I don't think our digestion is strong enough for it. Fruit's usually raw, but almost nothing else is (we're dairy free).

[Koalamom]

Originally Posted by TanyaLopez

We eat very little raw food because I don't think our digestion is strong enough for it. Fruit's usually raw, but almost nothing else is (we're dairy free).

Very interesting Tanya. We eat very little raw foods and perhaps fruit if that. But we have tried every gut healing thing there is for me and my 2 yr dd and have seen very little success. But I have been switching to raw more, and have been finally been able to eat many things and am fine. Dd seems fine too. Still I will not use juicing pulp and try to have low fiber, but we are thinking raw is helping to our healing.
(sorry this is off topic. Now time to respond to OP...)

[Koalamom]

To the OP, going raw may not actually address your teeth issues since we do need heat to break open the cell walls of food to allow the minerals to be now available. Perhaps if your gut is healthy, your body could do it on its own, but for us, cooked food is important. Raw is important for the enzymes, but I think we need a balance.

What I want to talk about is the amount of nutrients your are getting. How is your families mineral intake? When dealing with cavities, it is usually very important to increase minerals so much that supplementation is right. We switched to raw milk, and my dd's teeth actually got worse during the time that we drank tons of raw milk. We later realized that she is dairy allergic. Plus the raw dairy if it works for your family, is in the fright step, but you may just be needing something like Vit D like Tanya said.

We can work through this. I know just what your are going through, still dealing with horrible teeth from childhood, and it seems that if I even look at food I get a cavity. Praying that my nursing son has perfect teeth when they come in.

[JaneS]

The key to strong teeth are high minerals: calcium, magnesium, phosphorus especially and high amounts of fat soluble vitamins: A, D and K2, found only in animal foods such as cod liver oil, grass fed butter and cheese and cream, pastured egg yolks, wild seafood and fish eggs, organ meats from grass fed animals.

Eating whole natural foods are great... but not necessarily enough to restock body stores if you are not getting high amounts of key nutrients. That is why a vegan diet, even if whole food based, can be deficient as well. See "Curing Cavities with Nutrition" thread.