Since I have had this tooth problem, (and fear that I might have to get it removed down the road-which would put a halt on my running), I have been thinking about teeth and what indigenous people did for theirs. I just read that natives to the Virginia area were known for their white teeth. This was due to them using Dogwood twigs. They would chew on the ends-which would easily split and this was used as a brush. Also Wood Strawberry Fragaria vesca L. was used. Dig up the root and use it as a chewing stick/brush...
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the #1 thing natives did was not eat sugar (duh!). even not much fruit (duh). over time the teeth might still wear down from chewing on fibrous, tough material , but dental cavities were extremely rare (of course Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston Price is the classic in this regards).
this is one thing we modern, civilized runners are doing differently. we depend on daily carb intake to be able to train everyday. while, it's probable that runners in native societies would do some sort of carbo-loading if they were preparing for a long journey (lots of books refer to native runners being put on special diets), it was mostly veggies and meat with only one meal/day. loren cordain in Paleo Diet for Athletes talks about how their physiology (he cites the Ache) worked differently to allow them to do some serious long distance running on a less frequent basis then modern athletes.
tim is here and he had his front tooth (actually a porcelain tooth) knocked out a few months back from eating hard goat cheese (very sketchy). we got to talking about teeth and dentistry and people in the country who've pulled out their own teeth with plyers and alcohol and nothing else. about as painful as you can get. tim was telling us about a super low cost dentist named "jim the butcher" who pulled his wisdom teeth out for $15 but left the roots in. there's going to be a generation of old folks (maybe us) whose children are going to have to chew their food for them. either that or we all walk around with a mortar and pestle.
anyway, i'm putting a lot more attention on my teeth now, including flossing. flossing strengthens the gums which make it a lot harder for teeth to fall out when you get old. you can tell how weak your gums are if they bleed when you floss them. over time they'll stop bleeding and your gums will be strong again.
Natives in the southwest were known for having horrible teeth because they ate a lot of agave.
I believe sugar is a huge problem but not the full problem. I really feel that processed foods are the main culprit. Eating shit made out of flour, sugar, salt and all the other fucked up shit we mix together causes the most harm to our bodies and teeth. That and all the pop and juice people consume.
I know that fruit was only available a few months out of the year and honey, syrups, and nectars were also consumed a few times a year as well but I don't think people should stay away from fruits. I get upset when I hear PT's tell people who are trying to lose weight to stay away from fruit. They need to keep away from the muffins and pastries and need to keep eating fruit because fruit is full of so many essential vitamins and minerals plus much needed fiber.
And of course fresh veggies, nuts, seeds, fish, organs, and meat are even more important.
The !Kung use Hoodia on long hunts and in time of famine. It helps make them feel full and also gives them the energy they need. Now it is a big deal in the diet pill industry. This really bums me. I don't even want to know how many Hoodia succulents are being dug up and taken so that fuckers here and in other rich countries can lose weight when all they need to do is cut the shit and get off the couch.
Anyway...
My molar tooth is fucked because my wisdom tooth grew in fucked up, (thanks to years of agriculture and our now smaller jaw structures), and ended up getting infected and abscessed...so of course I had it removed and I didn't take the antibiotic and used different plants that fight infection instead. I guess I didn't use them long enough because the infection never went away and spread to the molar in front of where the wisdom tooth was. So that's my problem. It is fucking painful, hard to eat, and hard to run...so my suggestion to everybody is to have their wisdom teeth removed because they will cause problems down the road.
That's pretty fucked about Tim eating hard cheese and losing his tooth. How does that happen?!
I wish I were able to diagnose my teeth problems-that way I would know if ripping them out would be a better option. I wouldn't mind ripping out my own teeth. I actually enjoyed having my wisdom tooth taken out. The healing process is what fucking sucked.
Yea, I have been thinking a lot more about my teeth though and plan to go around with clippers to get some twigs from Dogwoods. They are all over down this way so I have an abundant source of goodness for my teeth.
Anyway, I'm going to go check out that Joe Friel's blog. Thanks for that info.
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