Hey Vegan Reddit,
I've been vegan a little over four years. The past two years I've had no cavities and before that I didn't do a good job flossing so I blame no fillings I had on being vegan. What are your thoughts on this link below? Have long-term vegans experienced issues with tooth decay?
http://www.curetoothdecay.com/Tooth_Decay/tooth_cavity_vegan.htm
Posted Feb 13, 2011, 6:51 AM UTC
Goddamn, what a terrible article. If I were you, I wouldn't take anything this guy said seriously. I thought travisd05 was joking. Nope. In addition, the fact that the author still thinks vegans can't get all their amino acids is laughable. Also, he cites another dentist...and the link goes to another page on the website. WTF?
Geez, this guy isn't even a dentist. Look at his credentials.
Nagel has a BA from the University of California and has ten years of training in emotional health care. Nagel is a member of the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation and the Weston A. Price Foundation.
Also, under his bio picture:
Ramiel Nagel, Alternative Medicine Author
Do not ever, ever trust an alternative medicine anything as your main source for any topic.
Weston A. Price Foundation
that is all
He was vegan for 8 months and currently eats "allot" of animal products...
ಠ_ಠ
Nope. I wouldn't call myself a "long-term" vegan yet (going on over a year), but my husband and I haven't had a single cavity since we became vegans. Our dentist asked what we were doing and "Are you eating more fruits and veggies?" "Um, yeah, something like that." We did tell her we had gone vegan and she thought that sounded great, so no complaints there.
There are so many things wrong with that article but others seem to be doing a good job of debunking what I hope you can see as nonsense. It's so thick that it's hard to believe this guy knows anything about anything.
You can definitely have tooth decay as a vegan. Just sip on Coke all day, munch on Oreos and don't ever brush or floss. However, there's nothing special about non-vegan diets that protect your teeth versus vegan diets and you can definitely eat a healthy diet as a vegan and use vegan tooth paste (or Ipsab tooth powder, as I prefer).
I had a dentist session (with a new dentist) where I had a bunch of cavities but I think the dentist was extremely loose with her definition of cavity. It had only been 3 months since my last visit and I was brushing and flossing frequently.
I'm still pretty pissed I didn't speak up to question that.
So, no, I don't think tooth decay relates to veganism.
At least 1 counter-example: I was an octo-lavo vegetarian for 15 years and a vegan for nearly the last 2: I have never had a cavity in my life.
Tooth decay relates to going to bed with food stuck in your teeth combined with sugar consumption combined with a lack of brushing and flossing.
Sugar feeds any bacteria that is growing.
also, add a few drops of tea tree oil in water and swish this solution in your mouth.
also, i think a tongue scraper is good and helps with bad breath.
also, be careful and get multiple opinions when dealing with dentists, too many of them are trying to earn money instead of recommending / knowing what is best.
also, teeth will heal if you change the bad habits that causes the decay, and it is much better to have a partially decayed tooth that no longer hurts and has grown new enamel, than to have no tooth at all.
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I stopped reading after "breast milk is not vegan."
I stopped reading after the popover appeared a second time.
Yeah, that was just ridiculous.
So others don't have to read the site:
REALLY not getting the idea of veganism. eye roll
I just realized the author wrote "your" instead of "you're." Wow.
Well, considering the rest, that's hardly even surprising. I'm kind of used to it online. Heck, I'm sure I make mistakes like that from time to time out of laziness/tiredness. But yes, stuff like that bugs me, too.