We have been told that all you need to take care of your teeth is to brush regularly and visit your dentist.

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In the 1930s, Weston Price traveled the world studying indigenous populations completely isolated from modern society. He found that people who never brushed their teeth had virtually no cavities, while their modern counterparts showed roughly 25% tooth decay rates. His conclusion: diet, not brushing, is the determining factor.

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From the prologue of his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (amazon "read sample"):

"Price's research proved conclusively that dental decay is caused primarily by nutritional deficiencies, and that those conditions that promote decay also promote disease. Price found fourteen indigenous diets that, although radically different, provided almost complete immunity to tooth decay and resistance to illness. Contact with outside civilization, followed by adoption of what Price termed the "displacing foods of modern commerce," was disastrous for all groups studied. Rampant dental caries was followed by progressive facial deformities in children born to parents consuming refined and devitalized foods. ... Significantly, when some of these people returned to their traditional diets, open cavities ceased progressing... ."

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Price discovered three essential nutrients for dental health: (fn4)

Calcium 1,500 mg daily

Phosphorus 2,000 mg daily

X-Factor (later discovered in Butter Oil) 1/2 tsp twice daily (see here).

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Note: Synthetic vitamins are not effective substitutes — whole food sources are essential.

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The health decline seen in populations that adopted modern diets is largely due to insufficient calcium and phosphorus in the blood. The X-Factor — found in butter oil, which is also a natural source of vitamin A — plays an additional critical role. This is also why vegans often struggle to maintain cavity resistance over time: fat-soluble vitamins and their activators are difficult to obtain adequately from plant-based diets alone.

It is precisely due to the lack of fat-soluble vitamins and activators in the vegan diet that makes it difficult for vegans over time to remain immune to cavities and the effects of physical degeneration.

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Calcium is widely available through many suppliers. (fn3)

Phosphorus is harder to source — see the section below.

Butter oil is available here.

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"The Town Without a Toothache"

​In 1942, Hereford, Texas earned the nickname “Town without a Toothache” due to Dr. George Heard’s discovery that residents had remarkably low rates of tooth decay. He attributed this to the regular consumption of raw, grass-fed milk and fermented dairy products like buttermilk, clabber, and yogurt. Heard observed that individuals who drank a quart of this nutrient-rich milk daily—especially from cows grazing on mineral-rich native grass—developed resistance to cavities. The milk provided essential minerals (calcium, phosphorus), fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, C), and beneficial probiotics. Soured milk products, naturally fermented before refrigeration existed, aided digestion and nutrient absorption, further promoting dental and overall health. (fn2) If you want to consume milk products using the proper ayurvedic milk recipe, see here.

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Dr. Price's protocol

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"The quantity of the mixture of butter oil and cod liver oil required is quite small, half a teaspoonful three times a day with meals is sufficient to control wide-spread tooth decay when used with a diet that is low in sugar and starches and high in foods providing the minerals, particularly phosphorus. A teaspoonful a day divided between two or three meals is usually adequate to prevent dental caries and maintain a high immunity; it will also maintain freedom from colds and a high level of health in general. This reinforcement of the fat-soluble vitamins to a menu that is low in starches and sugars, together with the use of bread and cereal grains freshly ground to retain the full content of the embryo or germ, and with milk for growing children and for many adults, and the liberal use of sea foods and organs of animals, produced the result described."​ (fn5)

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A note on cod liver oil: Not all cod liver oils are alike. Cod liver oils purchased at health food stores do not have any of their natural vitamin D intact. Green Pasture™ produces the highest quality, most nutrient-dense cod liver oil on the market called Blue Ice™ fermented cod liver oil. It contains all of the cod liver’s vitamin D intact because it uses fermentation rather than distillation. See here. See footnote 6 for Medical Medium advice on cod liver oil.

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