Crazy Tartar/Dental Calculus

[Rasheed]

Even 1 month after professional cleaning, I get tartar—2.5 months passed and I have a crazy tartar/calculus.

My diet consists if low carb, high protein, and high fat, mostly carnivore. 

Yet I always have this incessant acid reflux. Is acid reflux cause of my tartar. (I keep my oral hygiene good by brushing my teeth twice.)

What should I do? How can avoid tartar? I will go to professional cleaning this week, but what’s the point, In two weeks, tartar is back at full force...

Edited August 4 by Rasheed

[Princess Arabia]

Brushing teeth twice doesn't mean good dental care. What do you brush twice with. If it's a no-good toothpaste, then you're only doing more harm than good. I can guarantee you that if it's a conventional one like Colgate or Crest, then you're doing more harm than good. 

Your body is probably too acidic and I didn't see you mention anything about greens which helps to alkalize the body. Dr Bronner's toothpastes are good, so is TheraNeem Naturals.

 

[Rasheed]

17 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

Brushing teeth twice doesn't mean good dental care. What do you brush twice with. If it's a no-good toothpaste, then you're only doing more harm than good. I can guarantee you that if it's a conventional one like Colgate or Crest, then you're doing more harm than good. 

Your body is probably too acidic and I didn't see you mention anything about greens which helps to alkalize the body. Dr Bronner's toothpastes are good, so is TheraNeem Naturals.

 

I don't eat greens that much; I am 80% carnivore. And the funny thing is, I actually use Colgate and Oral-B as toothpaste. By the way, does acidity cause tartar? 

[Princess Arabia]

36 minutes ago, Rasheed said:

By the way, does acidity cause tartar? 

Yes it can because it's indicative to overall health to have an alkaline body. I knew you were using poison to brush your teeth. Go look at the fine print, it says call poison control if ingested. Wait....what...toothpaste, duh ingested? Make sure to brush the outside of your mouth for fear of ingestion.

I bet you eat lots of dairy too.

Edited August 4 by Princess Arabia

[Princess Arabia]

@Rasheed

 

 

 

[Rasheed]

5 hours ago, Princess Arabia said:

Yes it can because it's indicative to overall health to have an alkaline body. I knew you were using poison to brush your teeth. Go look at the fine print, it says call poison control if ingested. Wait....what...toothpaste, duh ingested? Make sure to brush the outside of your mouth for fear of ingestion.

I bet you eat lots of dairy too.

I eat lots of dairy too…

By the way, thanks for advise Princess Arabia, I appreciate it.

[Osaid]

It's not just about mechanically cleaning it. It is also entirely dependent on how you eat. Otherwise it doesn't matter how well you clean, the rate of buildup wont change.

On cheat days, my plaque build up becomes like 20x faster than normal. In the morning there wont be any, and by the end of the day there will.

I have no idea about acid reflux, but I do know that acidity dries the mouth, and dry mouth will speed up bacteria and build up.

Edited August 4 by Osaid

[Princess Arabia]

3 hours ago, Rasheed said:

I eat lots of dairy too…

By the way, thanks for advise Princess Arabia, I appreciate it.

Yea, cut the dairy out too if you want health. Just a suggestion and you're welcome. 

[integral]

I haven’t brushed my teeth in over six years now and there’s zero tooth decay or plaque build up.

right after eating I rinse my mouth with water and use my nail to scrape out anything if there’s any buildup.

this is done after eating anything always. If the mouth feels dirty because your tongue can feel things building up on any toot then rinse with water and scrape around with your nail.

mindset: cleaning teeth, not brushing teeth.

Edited August 5 by integral

[Rasheed]

29 minutes ago, integral said:

I haven’t brushed my teeth in over six years now and there’s zero tooth decay or plaque build up.

right after eating I rinse my mouth with water and use my nail to scrape out anything if there’s any buildup.

this is done after eating anything always. If the mouth feels dirty because your tongue can feel things building up on any toot then rinse with water and scrape around with your nail.

mindset: cleaning teeth, not brushing teeth.

Wait how? You haven’t brushed your teeth for 6 years? First of all why? Second of all, how did you maintain your teeth healthy without brushing? Are they White?

I also rinse my mouth with water after eating, yet tartar is running amok in my case

 

58 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

Yea, cut the dairy out too if you want health. Just a suggestion and you're welcome. 

What do you think about Kefir?

Edited August 5 by Rasheed

[Princess Arabia]

28 minutes ago, Rasheed said:

Wait how? You haven’t brushed your teeth for 6 years? First of all why? Second of all, how did you maintain your teeth healthy without brushing? Are they White?

I also rinse my mouth with water after eating, yet tartar is running amok in my case

 

What do you think about Kefir?

Kefir is fine because it is fermented. I personally prefer goat's milk kefir or coconut kefir. 

I have another prediction for you. I bet you snore and blow your nose a lot. If not you might have asthma. Just guesses, am I right.

[Princess Arabia]

1 hour ago, integral said:

I haven’t brushed my teeth in over six years now and there’s zero tooth decay or plaque build up.

right after eating I rinse my mouth with water and use my nail to scrape out anything if there’s any buildup.

this is done after eating anything always. If the mouth feels dirty because your tongue can feel things building up on any toot then rinse with water and scrape around with your nail.

mindset: cleaning teeth, not brushing teeth.

Brushing teeth is cleaning teeth. There are also natural toothbrushes made from fiber that's gentle on the teeth. I'm not debunking your method, but I'm not sure just water will kill germs and that dirty fingernails is a better choice. Tongue needs to be brushed too. Eating raw sugarcane will clean your teeth also so I'm not saying brushing is the only way, but fingernails? Never heard of that and I'm an alternative kinda gal.

Edited August 5 by Princess Arabia

[Princess Arabia]

Health is holistic. It has to be all around. Can't just do one thing and expect the body to perform optimally. I'm not perfect, but I try to maintain a 80/20 ratio. Since my Spiritual Awakening, though, I have been pushing harder as my ego wants to fight homeostasis. Cravings galore. 

Oral care is not just about brushing twice daily. Diet is involved and calcium/potassium/magnesium are important. Eggshell powder is also great for tooth health as it's made from the same compound as teeth. It helps with remineralization and strengthens teeth. Amazon sells it or make your own from organic or thoroughly washed shells.

Edited August 5 by Princess Arabia

[Michael569]

On 04/08/2024 at 9:41 AM, Rasheed said:

Yet I always have this incessant acid reflux

I'd say in the order of priorities, look into that the reflux before fixing the oral health. Yes, it can be a contributor especially if you suffer form silent reflux. There are tests that can be done, usually including oesophageal scan with a camera to check if you have acid-driven erosion in your oesophagus, if so then that needs to be treated immediately with whatever means available. There are also tests that take the camera all the way down to your stomach. It is unpleasant but worth it potentially. 

The reason this needs to be a priority is that acid reflux is the biggest risk factor for oesophageal cancer and a potential indication that something's going on in the stomach that should be investigated. I'm saying it to make you aware and incentivise you to take it extremely seriously. Even if you had to take bunch of medication for a short term to fix it, you should. 

Second to that you want to begin to understand what's causing your reflux and whether there is any form of potential stomach lining damage, ulcer, chronic inflammation, irritation etc.. Again,  a good gastroenterologist can help you with that. Maybe even worth asking them to consider H-Pylor testing. There is a breath test a doctor can do called Urea 13C or they can do a stool test called SAT - Stool Antigen Test. 

When it comes to diet, high protein carnivore could be a suspect as high fat diets especially diets high in saturated fat with lots of beef,  tallow and butter have been linked to higher odds of GERD although I'm not sure why it happens, something to do with the upper gastric sphincter being weakened due to high fat content in the diet? Not sure. 

Dairy, as already mentioned above could be an issue or doesn't have to be. That depends how you tolerate it. I've eliminated dairy mostly from my diet since I constantly have the urge to clear my throat when eating it so its not working great. If you suspect dairy to be an issue try replacing it for plant based alternatives for a few weeks and see what happens. 

With regards to dental hygiene, that's coming lower on the priority list , sure you want to keep optimal hygiene but if the tartar is a consequence of acid reflux that it is going to be coming back if you don't deal with the above. 

We have gastroenterologist on the forum who might shed more light into this as well @undeather

TLDNR 

Look into that acid reflux with priority, its a potentially dangerous condition but a good gastroenterologist can help you diagnose and treat it. Dental plaq is a second-tier priority in this case as it might have nothing to do with your oral health and could be coming from acid erosion.  

 

Edited August 5 by Michael569

[Applegarden8]

I think your acid reflux contributes to your dental problems. But acid reflux by itself will give you a lot of problems down the line, trust me bro. You don't want chronic gastritis and stuff.

[PsychedelicEagle]

What I would consider:

1. Rethink your low-carb/carnivore diet; consider doing at most 35% of calories from fats (and this may still be too much);
2. Reduce the number of meals (this is how I fixed my reflux, when I had a regular omnivore diet)

Unless you have a very specific condition, I would reconsider the carnivore diet. All evidence points to us having evolved to eat mostly fruits. Meat is a lot harder for our body to digest, and it has a lot of saturated fat. Saturated fat induces insulin resistance, which can drive many chronic diseases. Meat also disrupts our microbiome. The more raw plants/fruits you eat the better your microbiome. Ensure you're eating less than 30-20g of saturated fat/day (even less is better).

Reducing the number of meals will give your digestive system more time to rest. Maybe consider eating 2x/day and intermittent fasting. Since your body uses mostly fat at this moment it should be an easy switch.