I believe very much that our diets make a difference in how our bodies feel and function.I have lived my life according to my belief to keep my body in good working order throughout my adult life, with various regimens of cleansing and tonifying to give myself tune-ups now and then.
The spring, summer, and fall of 2011 brought a perfect storm of personal disasters into my life. I frankly, am still amazed in 2013 every time I look in the mirror that large patches of my head hair haven't fallen out, or that I haven't gone gray overnight from stress. It was (horrible, horrible, horrible) squared!
I have been told by dentists that I am a tooth grinder. I must've been grinding overtime in my sleep, because while I was driving to work and eating carrots, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my right upper jaw. At first I was startled, because I'm not used to feeling any kind of tooth pain (I'm 39 and have never had dental caries). I took a swig of water, and immediately felt horrible, radiating pain. I figured I must've cracked a tooth, but it was so far in the back that I couldn't see it, and my life circumstances demanded that I keep going. I didn't have the time or the resources to get myself to a dentist. I called a number for a community care dentist, but the wait was more than a month away, and would require missing work.
The next few days were filled with throbbing headaches and jaw pain. Eating or drinking anything was painful, even if done on the other side of my jaw. Breathing air in through my mouth hurt. I loaded myself up with turmeric and black pepper, Yunnan Baiyao and tienchi tablets. I don't have my Masters of Science (yet-- I'll finish it someday), but I went to school for Acupuncture and herbs, so I usually have a stash of trauma herbs, and Yunnan Baiyao is really amazing stuff!
Thinking of my teeth as an extension of my bones, I considered myself healing a bone break. I avoided cold food and drink, and kept my circulation moving with herbs. After the throbbing of the first few days subsided, I loaded myself up with as much oily fish as I could afford. I ate cans of sardines (I like the King Oscar ones in olive oil). When I got a tip at work, I went around the corner for some miso soup and a spicy double tuna roll. I ate as much fatty fish and greens as possible.
Within a few weeks, I only felt an occasional twinge if I chewed something hard on that side in a less-than-careful way. By this time I was home with the kids, and had the time and resources to order some kefir grains, and make the drive out to get raw, grassfed milk from the Mennonite farms. I cultured the milk and drank it with my family. I made bone soup.
Within several months, my tooth was so healed that I had forgotten all about it.
I had forgotten about it so completely that when I took us all for our checkups and cleaning in December, 2012, I was surprised when the dentist had said that I had a cracked tooth. It was pretty funny actually, because by the time the dentist came around to look at my x-rays and talk to me about them, our son had put the stationery stamp from his goodie bag all over his face, and was hopping up and down. The dentist said something like, "You've cracked a tooth from tooth grinding. (turns to my son) You need to stop stressing mommy out."
He showed me the piece that was missing, and I agreed that it would be best to have it filled in order for food to not stick there in the missing piece area. As I'm a big chicken and scared of needles, he put some gel on it, but said we could wait on the Novacaine and try to fill it without. The filing of the broken tooth felt like an uncomfortable tickle, but not even in the ball park of how painful it was when I cracked the tooth in Fall 2011!
I can't rewind time and produce an exact copy of myself and conduct an experiment with control group to prove it on paper, but I know my tooth healed. I felt it and experienced it, and I'm certain that if I had had the time and resources to have my cracked tooth attended to at the time it had cracked, the dentist would have insisted on a much more serious intervention than just having a piece filled in (with no Novacaine to boot).
This experience was a real blessing in the end. It gave me the courage to stand alone against convention to do what is right in my heart for my kids' health and futures, and withdraw us from common food society.
I'm not operating under a delusion that missing pieces will reappear, or that she'll grow a new row of teeth like a shark... but I know that given time and proper nutrition, her teeth will remineralize into the dentin, and she will have a foundation of good habits that will serve her well for a healthy future.
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