@happyhanneke, I searched through Ray’s radio interviews addressing cavities and all I’m finding for potential causes are low thyroid, excess estrogen, stress, poor digestion and poor saliva production. Some examples:
Question: We've got another question here on dental health. Question about there's a lot of people who recommend eliminating sucrose, fructose, and most fruits when people have dental ailments. And on the other side of it, you know, you talk about increasing, you know, carbohydrates, you know, for cell metabolism, et cetera. Can you elaborate a little bit on that, why there's so much conflicting information on that, and what contributes to dental issues?
Ray Peat: I saw a recent article on dental health in Sweden, and they saw that during the time that cavities have decreased radically, sugar, candy, and soft drink consumption had actually increased, and they couldn't account for why the teeth were healthier while they were -- the basic diet hadn't changed so much, but had increased in the supposedly cavity-causing snack foods. And in my sugar article, I mention some of the old studies in which they modified the thyroid or estrogen and found that increased estrogen increased the dental decay, increased thyroid reduced the dental decay. And one whole line of dental research has shown that stress will very quickly cause an outbreak of cavities. And mainline dentistry just thinks in terms of germ growth in the mouth and completely neglects the chemical and immunological function of the saliva. I think the saliva is the mediator of stress.
https://bioenergetic.life/transcripts/88db6?t=4785&c=109
Question: Now, do you think that a lot of our digestive distress is from a kind of a society of sitting?
Ray Peat: Yeah, definitely. Everyone who takes up the habit of walking for an hour or so a day notices improved digestion. The general sense of well-being is largely because of the improved movement of the intestinal muscles but also improved secretions. Feeling good and relaxing and moving around reduces the nervous tension and that increases the secretions. You can see it even in saliva. When you're very anxious, your mouth tends to go dry because of the shift from one part of the nervous system to the other shuts off secretions starting in the mouth but affecting all the way down.
Question: Yeah, so there is kind of a north to south process, right? So, would you say that the saliva is just as important as the stomach acid? I mean, as it starts there and it works down to the stomach acid and then the CCK and all the different secretions that happen from the pancreas and the liver. Is it pretty important to start with the fundamentals like keeping a good cephalic head phase of digestion going as well as good adequate stomach acid?
Ray Peat: Oh yeah, anyone who has taken a drug that shuts down saliva production has generally had an outbreak of cavities. The anti-cholinergic drugs and some of the anti-histamines reduce the production of saliva so much that it's not just the drying of the lower quantity of saliva but the composition changes chemically. Instead of washing away and inactivating bacteria and their products, it tends to favor their growth. So, you can see it as increased deposits on the teeth but especially in the extremely fast development of cavities when the mouth is dry.
https://bioenergetic.life/transcripts/13b78?t=382&c=8
