Teeth and Gums

And How to Care for Them

“… yeah, my dentist said my gums are receding and I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that.”

I heard it in the background, but it immediately caught my attention. I turned and said, “I know exactly what to do about that!”

I have amazing teeth. Braces corrected what nature gave me in terms of the overbite but my teeth have never been a problem. As a child, I had two very small cavities on the lower side (same place, opposite one another between two of my molars). Back then, mercury was in the fillings, of course. Bad juju, mercury. If you have ever had metal fillings, I left a recipe at the end of this post which can chelate metal from the body. It’s yummy too (if you like cilantro)!

My gums are another story entirely. I have had gingivitis and suffer from gum recession. I used to grind my teeth. I used to be lax about flossing. I inherited the gum recession and was told there is no cure – that whatever gum loss I had already suffered was permanent. Thankfully, I rarely believe anything a traditional medical professional tells me. 😉

Off and on over the years, I have read many articles related to gum disease. Several sources confirmed the permanence of gum loss, so I eventually resigned myself to at least making it stop. I bought a retainer to act as a bite guard at night (meditation finally stopped the grinding for good), started flossing religiously, and purchased several bottles of this:

OraMD is not for everyone. It is a highly concentrated peppermint extract that smells and tastes super strong. It burns my gums. And it works. OraMD destroys bacteria. It arrests gingivitis because it cleans your mouth like nothing else can. And I love it. I am addicted to the feeling of clean it leaves behind. It is WAY better than mouthwash. It is expensive, and worth every penny. In the beginning, I used it twice daily, now I just brush with it at night using this:

Sonicare Electric Toothbrush

Somewhere in my forties, a hygienist taught me the correct way to brush with an electric toothbrush: Point the bristles towards the gum line and hold. This accomplishes two things. 1. Alleviates stress on the gums that can come from brushing against them in a straight line, and 2. Allows the bristles to gently clean just under the gum line, removing more of the plaque and germs that contribute to gum recession.

Fast forward ten years. My gums have stopped receding, but a hygienist still recommended scaling. I refused – it costs too much and a little research convinced me of its utter ineffectiveness (yet another example of the dental industry looking to make a buck).

Sometime around 2012, a dentist removed the metal from my mouth and replaced my childhood fillings. The procedure worked, but when the dentist accidentally injured the nerve inside the sheath surrounding the jawbone, I was left with swelling and pain that lasted six weeks! I continued to go in for cleanings, but they became increasingly painful due to excessive tartar buildup and my sensitivity.

In late fall of 2016, things took a turn for the worst. One of the bottom teeth on the left side of my mouth began to hurt. By December, I could not chew on that side and hot/cold liquids were torture. I could not believe it! I had not had tooth pain since I was a child, and there was no way in hell I was going to let a dentist touch my teeth – not after the last fiasco! I was partially convinced that the pain was related to the refilling of the original cavity anyway, but I no longer lived near that dentist, so… what to do?

I turned to the Internet, of course, and began researching the possibility of rebuilding tooth enamel naturally – something every dentist will tell you is also impossible. What I found was beyond astounding. Whatever your dentist has told you about tooth enamel, it’s a lie.

Did you know that tooth enamel (unlike your hair) is alive and can be regrown?

After gleaning enough information to fill a small book, I settled on some simple steps that resolved my issue in about 30 days – without a trip to the dentist.

Step 1: Kill the infection. Enamel cannot grow if there is an active infection in the area. Of course, the OraMD was taking care of any bacteria, but an infection was clearly eating away at my tooth. If the dentin should be exposed, I would no longer be able to correct my problem without a dentist, and could possibly need my first root canal. Nope!

One of my favorite YouTube channels has a wonderful video about teeth. It advised using colloidal silver to deal with any infections in the mouth. I was not interested in making my own and the cost is prohibitive, so I settled on this:

Sovereign Silver

For the next 30 days I swished 1 dropper-full in my mouth for 30 seconds, focusing on where I felt the pain, then swallowed. Silver has the added benefit of building the immune system. Who knew? I also started making my own toothpaste, and it changed my life in unexpected ways. I still use OraMD at night, of course.

Toothpaste Recipe (cheap and effective):

Mix 2/3 cup baking soda with 1/2 tsp. raw, unrefined sea salt in a small bowl. Add 20 drops of CTGO essential oil – peppermint, wintergreen, whatever flavor you like. I chose to use dōTERRA peppermint oil since I knew it was safe to ingest. Mix well, then add enough water to make a thick paste. Store in a glass jar. Simply dip your wet toothbrush into the mixture and brush. Be sure to cap the jar tightly as baking soda absorbs odors.

By the end of 30 days most of the pain in my tooth was gone. After another month, I had no sensitivity to hot/cold – in fact, I no longer had any sensitivity at all! And my teeth were whiter than they had ever been in my life!

In March of 2017 (almost three months after curing the toothache), I returned to the hygienist for a cleaning. She spent less than 10 minutes scraping plaque that day. She did not say anything, but I could tell she was perplexed. A few months later I began noticing that my gums were not as red at the tooth line as they had been for the past several years. My gum recession had not changed, except that it had stopped.

I returned to the hygienist a couple of months ago. This time she commented in a confused tone, “Hm, it says in your chart that you have excessive plaque…?” I smiled and told her that I started using a homemade toothpaste that has apparently taken care of that problem. She agreed that the salt would definitely help, but refused to comment on the baking soda. Interestingly enough, when I told my parents about my success, my mother confessed that her father used salt exclusively to brush his teeth – a mouth full of them that he retained until his death. Smart man.

I am confident that my toothpaste is successfully rebuilding my tooth enamel and has cured my gum disease. My teeth are stronger than ever, whiter than ever, and resting in the healthiest gums I have had since the braces went on in 1978.

NOTE: There are several different homemade toothpaste ingredients I found on the internet, including bentonite clay and even cocoa nibs. I chose the ones that I had on hand and that I believed would work for me. Several sites I visited recommended using hydrogen peroxide for whitening. Whatever ingredients you decide to use, please do the research, and when in doubt, always listen to your intuition. It is by far the best guide you will ever have.

Many blessings to you on your journey to a healthier mouth. As always, thanks for reading!

~ Cindy

Here’s a little bonus recipe for your good health:

Chelating Cilantro Pesto

Pack your blender about 3/4 full with fresh cilantro (wash well and remove the leaves from the stems)

ADD:

1/2 c. almonds, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pine nuts (one or a blend)

7T flax or excellent quality oil

3-4 big garlic cloves

Juice of a lime or lemon (lemon makes it really tart)

Sea salt or Bragg’s aminos to taste

Whizzzzz until well pestoed! I eat this on virtually anything and everything (including a spoon!)