This article first appeared in the January 2016 issue of Austin All Natural magazine.
© 2018, Austin All Natural
WHY WE REALLY GET CAVITIES
An excerpt from Patient Empowerment: How to Slay Dental Dragons , by Hal Huggins, DDS, MS
Submitted by Dr. Matthew Carpenter
As teeth decay, cavities appear – but why? Dentistry tells you sugar, food, and bacteria sitting on your teeth – so all you have to do is brush your teeth. But there’s more to it than that.
Sugar and foods sitting on the tooth don’t create dental decay.
It’s the fluid flow within the tooth that determines its health – and that’s determined by the types of foods you eat, not how long they remain in your mouth.
Dr. Ralph Steinman of the University of Loma Linda School of Dentistry answered the question of the origin of dental decay decades ago. He detailed life in teeth in over seventy scientific articles describing a “fluid flow” through teeth, and the direction of this flow created either susceptibility or resistance to dental decay.
Using radioactive isotopes, he identified a fluid that flows from its blood source in the pulp chamber, through dentin tubules, through enamel, clear into the mouth. This fluid is derived from the bloodstream and travels within arterioles that go up the pulp chamber of the tooth in people free from dental decay.
In people who are experiencing dental decay, this fluid flow process is reversed. Fluids flow from the mouth, through enamel, through dentin, into the pulp chamber, dragging along acids, bacteria, and debris from the breakdown of residual foods in the mouth.
Further investigations taught Steinman the direction of fluid flow was dependent upon the activity of a gland located on the side of the jaw – the parotid gland – and controlled by hormone production, in turn controlled by the type of food you eat.
Protein causes the fluid to flow healthily from the pulp chamber into the mouth. Sugars make it flow the opposite way, from the mouth into the tooth.
Big discovery – sugar sitting on the tooth does not create dental decay. It’s the control of the direction of the fluid flow by sugar that creates decay, not acids and foods sitting on the tooth, as most dental schools teach.
Hal Huggins was the first dentist to speak out about the dangers of mercury amalgam.
Dr. Matthew Carpenter of Transcend Dental Health uses drill-free air abrasion, ozone therapy, natural alternatives to antibiotics, and non-surgical treatment of gum disease. (512) 255-3618, www.tdhtx.com
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