While we're completing construction of the Preventive Dentistry part of this site, here's some great dental nutrition information lifted with great appreciation and respect from the International Natural Hygiene Society website , followed by parts of the nutrition section #'s 16 & 17 from the Preventive Dentistry Information Manual used in our dental office for a quarter century:

ARTICLE

Are you on a good diet? The best way to find out may be through your teeth (if you have been on the same diet for several years). Already the dentist Weston Price knew this - he traveled all around the world in the 30's to look at primitive peoples teeth, and thereby health. Like this:

Tooth decay - your diet is deficient.

Dental health - your diet & general health is ok.
Below are some quotes about teeth and diet selected by Dr. Stanley S. Bass.

About Tooth Decay & Diet

DENTAL HEALTH & CIVILIZATION In the summer of 1933, [we made] contact with large bands of Indians who had come out of the Pelly mountain country to exchange their catch of furs at the last outpost of the Hudson Bay Company... they have remained as nomadic wandering tribes following the moose and caribou herds in the necessary search to obtain their foods. The rigorous winters reach seventy degrees below zero. This precludes the possibility of maintaining dairy animals or growing seed cereals or fruits. The diet of these Indians is almost entirely limited to the wild animals of the chase. This made a study of them exceedingly important. The wisdom of these people regarding Nature's laws, and their skill in adapting themselves to the rigorous climate and very limited variety of foods, and these often very hard to obtain, have developed a skill in the art of living comfortably with rugged Nature that has been approached by few other tribes in the world.

The sense of honor among these tribes is so strong that practically all cabins, temporarily unoccupied due to the absence of the Indians on their hunting trip, were entirely unprotected by locks; and the valuables belonging to the Indians were left in plain sight...The condition of the teeth, and the shape of the dental arches and the facial form, were superb. Indeed, in several groups examined not a single tooth was found that had ever been attacked by tooth decay ... Careful inquiry regarding the presence of arthritis was made in the more isolated groups. We neither saw nor heard of a case in the isolated groups. However, at the point of contact with the foods of modern civilization many cases were found including ten bedridden cripples in a series of about twenty Indian homes. Some other affections made their appearance here, particularly tuberculosis which was taking a very severe toll of the children who had been born at this center... The suffering from tooth decay was tragic. There were no dentists, no doctors available within hundreds of miles to relieve suffering.

The physiques of the Indians of the far north who are still living in their isolate locations and in accordance with their accumulated wisdom were superb. There were practically no irregular teeth, including no impacted third molars, as evidenced by the fact that all individuals old enough to have the molars erupted had them standing in position and functioning normally for mastication.

Where the Indians were using the white man's food tooth decay was very severe. . . In the new generation, after meeting the white civilization and using his foods, many developed crooked teeth, so-called, with deformed dental arches. . .

Weston Price, DDS: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

The prehistoric Indians of California were vegetarians, unlike most folks of that period, and they had tooth decay. In contrast, the Sioux Indians lived on buffalo meat and were devoid of cavities. The Pueblos worshipped the Corn God, but he was not grateful. They have the most wretched teeth of all the American Indian tribes. They live on corn, squash and beans. The Laplanders, who ate mostly reindeer meat during the 18th century, rarely had cavities. Modern laps have a decay rate of 85% of their teeth.

William Campbell Douglass, MD: The Milk of Human Kindness The Masai are tall and strong... For their food throughout the centuries they have depended very largely on milk, meat and blood, reinforced with vegetables and fruits. In the Masai tribe, a study of 2,516 teeth in eighty-eight individuals distributed through several widely separated manyatas showed only four individuals with caries. These had a total of ten carious teeth, or only 0.4 per cent of the teeth attacked by tooth decay. In contrast with the Masai, the Kikuyu tribe are characterized by being primarily an agricultural people. Their chief articles of diet are sweet potatoes, corn, beans, and some bananas, millet, and Kafir corn, a variety of Indian millet. The women use special diets during gestation and lactation. The Kikuyus are not as tall as the Masai and physically they ore much less rugged... A study of 1,041 teeth in thirty-three individuals showed fifty-seven teeth with caries or 5.5 per cent. There were 36.4 per cent of the individuals affected. Weston Price DDS: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

Thus, sugar consumption causes tooth decay not because it promotes bacterial growth in the mouth, as most dentists believe, but because it alters the internal body chemistry.

Orthodox nutritionists admit that sugar causes tooth decay, although they may be mistaken about just why this is so, but their warnings to avoid tooth decay by limiting sweets are disingenuous. Most people would be willing to pay the price for bad teeth as long as they did not have to stop eating sugar. After all, teeth can be repaired or replaced. But poor teeth are always the outward sign of other types of degeneration in the body, degeneration that cannot be repaired by mechanical means.
Sally Fallon: Nourishing Traditions

In 1984 I visited Fiji and stayed six months. There is a remarkably fertile and small region on the main island there, the Sigatoka River Valley, where the soils are alluvial and refreshed every few years with freshly-ground rock flour, happens when the Sigatoka River floods in a cyclone. .... When I ate the food from the Sigatoka Valley over half a year my teeth got tighter in my jaw; Isabelle's fingernails hardened, our whole sense of well-being improved. Steve Solomon, 3-04

A. Sucrose penetrates plaque in 1/2 sec and saturates it with enough sugar to cause 20 minutes of acid and toxin production -- probably due to stearic hindrance, etc. This is faster than any other "plaque food" can penetrate.

B. The "free energy of hydrolysis" (delta F0) of the split of sucrose into glucose and fructose is just the right quantum of energy (6,800 small calories) to make ATP. The plaque bacteria need this energy for the active absorption of nutrients -- eg. Strep Mutans.

C. Sucrose is a disaccharide -- meaning it's made up of a molecule of fructose plus a molecule of fructose -- 2 sugars. The bacteria in plaque have an enzyme that splits the sucrose into fructose and glucose INSTANTLY. The fructose produces IMMEDIATE energy and acid by products 0.6 sec after sucrose intake (0.5 sec to penetrate and 0.1 sec for chemical reaction!!). This continues for about 20 min. after each exposure!

The glucose is stored by the bacteria for long-term energy needs. This enables the bacteria to survive for long periods when you're not feeding them well. Plants store this same glucose within their own cells as STARCH (long chains of glucose). Animals store it for energy as GLYCOGEN (long chains of glucose) inside, too -- eg in the liver. Bacteria, such as those in plaque, store these long chains of glucose for energy outside their bodies -- cells -- in the form of dextrans, levans, furans, etc. These are the things that make plaque STICKY and adherent to teeth and supply long-term energy storage at the same time. When plaque has this mass of dextrans, etc. then it's "fully organized".

By the way, other common disaccharides are maltose, made up of 2 glucose molecules from which beer is fermented & lactose, made up of a molecule of glucose plus a molecule of galactose -- it's the sugar found in all mammalian milk except sea lions. Plaque can break maltose and lactose into the simple sugars -- monosaccharide -- also, but MUCH slower. Therefore they're not as dangerous as sucrose.

POLYSACCHARIDES are sugars made up of MANY molecules of simple sugars. The "energy storage molecules" mentioned above -- dextrans, starch, and glycogen -- are examples. Cellulose is also polysaccharide, made of lots of sugar molecules -- used by plants and carpenters for construction. All these sugars, from simple monosaccharide, such as glucose (also known as dextrose in England), to disaccharides, such as dreaded sucrose, to complex polysaccharides such as starch, glycogen and cellulose are also carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates have that name 'cause they're made up of carbon (carbo-) plus water (hydro-). Plants form carbohydrates by using the sun's energy to combine water and carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. Oxygen is a byproduct of this reaction. Animals use the oxygen from the air & breakdown the carbohydrates from their food to produce water & the energy needed to survive. Carbon dioxide is the waste product of this carbohydrate metabolism. Incidentally, at night, plants become animals, also consuming oxygen & producing carbon dioxide.

d. Not too long ago, about the time our grandparents were born, Americans ate about 7 pounds of sucrose per year. We now eat about 120 pounds per person per year. MOST of this (about 70%) is not purchased by us in bags but is purchased by food processors & ADDED into food we buy, most obviously in soda pop, candy, etc. but also in hot dogs, mayonnaise, catsup, cereals, breads, etc.

The average American is eating about 1/3 of a pound of sugar per day. Since I eat practically none, someone must be eating 2/3 pound per day--or more.

I suspect that with this system of adding sugar to nearly everything we buy & adding extremely well-produced ads to everyone's sensory input via TV, radio, etc. we've produced a generation of people who don't even know what food tastes like without sucrose. Most of the breakfasts eaten by American kids are little more than food-flavored candy (these processed cereals range from 20-60% sugar!!

As you'll see from objective #17, the FREQUENCY with which we eat sugar is far more important than the QUANTITY. The availability of packages of sugar in tablet form (Tic-Tacs, Lifesavers, Jujubes, Certs, etc.) makes it quite convenient to pop a dose of sucrose every 10-20 minutes, assuring 24 hr/day plaque saturation & acid & toxin production.

16A. Why is sucrose so bad for the rest of the body (systemically) compared to foods?

Minimum Requirement - there ain't no minimum requirement 'cause some people feel we oughtta concern ourselves only with teeth & gums & not play "real doctor", so this one, probably the most important part of the PDI, rates only a "16A" heading rather than it's own heading.

Additional Information -The main point here is that sucrose is not a food. It's a drug. It is devoid of ANY nutrient value or food content other than empty calories. It is processed & concentrated from foods, just as arsenic can be processed & condensed from apricots. Sucrose acts on the body as a drug, depleting the body's stores of vitamins & minerals (especially the B vitamins) & artificially raising the body's blood glucose levels QUICKLY & unphysiologically. Just as the bacteria in plaque can instantly break sucrose into glucose & fructose, so can the gut. This instant presence of large amounts of glucose in the stomach is quickly absorbed into the blood stream, causing transient hyperglycemia, which signals the pancreas to produce insulin--generally in excess--to lower the blood glucose levels to tolerable levels.

Since the blood level is usually lowered too much. This results in transient hypoglycemia, the accompanying "low" feeling and another sugar "fix" is desired. Caffeine has the same effect, artificially raising the blood sugar level & triggering the same yoyo effect on the endocrine system. If a "fix" is not forthcoming, the adrenal cortex is called into action by the excess of insulin and causes release of glycogen (stored glucose) from the liver to balance the insulin. This curtails pancreatic activity. This oscillation between overwork and dead stop is apparently a big factor in creating a diabetic.

Sucrose intake is also largely responsible for the production of grossly, not-so-grossly obese people, who have higher incidence of most degenerative diseases, heart diseases, etc.

Sucrose also raises the cholesterol & triglyceride levels, predisposing to arterial diseases. (by blocking cholesterol metabolism.)

On the emotional side (by the way, I strongly recommend Sugar Blues--it's emotional rather than scientific in approach, but effective) if breakfast consists of coffee with sugar, a sweet roll, grape juice & cereal with sugar the blood sugar level does not remain at 75-95 mg% as it's supposed to. It MAY soar as high as 200 mg%. (Mg%, by the way, is simply how many mg--1/1000 gm- of a substance--glucose in this case--are present in 100 mg of blood). With this elevated blood sugar level one may feel a burst of energy and really work hard for an hour or two. The brain cells are so saturated with sugar that one is actually on a "high". After an hour and a half, tho, this 200 mg% starts down--the big deceleration begins--nervousness sets in and possibly a bit of a headache. It is an uncomfortable feeling emotionally to have one's blood sugar level DROP no matter how high it is after dropping. "Bout time for the morning coffee break--and how about another donut? The old blood sugar starts to climb, we feel better--but what's going on inside of us? A drug effect.

High sucrose intake produces hyperactive kids (difficulty with sleep, Jekyll/Hyde personalities--great mood swings, always ticklish--can't ignore unimportant things). Depriving kids who are normally "holy terrors" of sucrose generally calms them to near normal levels within 2 weeks.

Michael J. Walsh, SCD, in Metabolic Aspects of Stress:

"Foods are chosen not for their denotations of the nutritive value, but rather for their social and cultural connotations of refinement, richness, softness, sweetness, deliciousness, and group acceptance.

Another reason sucrose is bad systemically is that it has NO nutritive value at all (other than empty calories) -- no vitamins, minerals, etc., yet it USES the body&Mac226;s stored nutrients in its metabolism. It actually TAKES various B vitamins just for the body to process the sucrose!

16B. What's the "Indirect-Direct" Effect of Sucrose on the Teeth & Gums?

Minimum Requirement--Again-no minimum requirement but the microscopic tubular fluid flow as described by Steinman might well be explained to anyone who might be interested, particularly food-&-health-conscious folks.

Additional Information--I've made an attempt at explaining this concept in paragraph 2 on page 5A under Objective #3. More info is available in our library. THE "Indirect-Direct" label comes from the effect that the sugar (sucrose) in the diet is DIRECTLY affecting the teeth & gums INDIRECTLY, thru the circulatory system of the body. This effect takes place regardless of the route of administration of the sugar. (Sucrose taken IV, without passing thru the mouth, can cause cavities & gum disease by reversing the fluid thru the dentinal tubules!!)

17. Frequency vs. Quantity (20 minutes theory)

Minimum Requirement -The client should be able to compare frequency vs. quantity of sucrose ingestion on plaque-acid production according to the 20-minute theory:

a. Plaque bacteria will produce acids & toxins for about 20 minutes following exposures to ANY quantity of sucrose.

b. Once the plaque is saturated with sucrose, more sucrose during that 20-minute period will not cause additional aid or toxin production."