How to cure tooth decay on a tight budget

(2018) Holistic strategies to cure tooth decay and prevent cavities will save you money, pain and unnecessary dental interventions. However, for those of us on a tight budget, the teeth healing diet in Ramiel Nagel’s book Cure Tooth Decay can seem out of reach at first glance.  This is the book that enabled me to prevent what would have been my seventh root canal  and any significant cavities for the past five years. It provides detailed instructions for an ‘ideal’ teeth healing diet which I have never followed strictly, due to the limitations of my own budget, local availability, preferences, intolerances or addictions.

What foods are the priority to cure your tooth decay?

Good quality food and supplements don’t come cheap, but that doesn’t have to mean holistic teeth healing is as expensive as good quality dental care. I’m often asked what I eat for my teeth and today’s post was prompted by a reader emailing me to ask what strategies I would prioritise on a tight budget. Since I’m naturally frugal, and under the constraints of starting a business at the time of writing, this is a very timely question. However, what works for my teeth, won’t necessarily work for yours.

Every body’s body is different, and the causes of tooth decay are complex and personal. You will need to experiment and find the most effective strategies that work for you within your budget. 

Inexpensive Teeth Healing Foods

Shop wisely

• Liver and other organ meats
• Canned fish such as tuna, salmon and sardines- eat the skin and bones as this is where much of the teeth healing value can be found
• White rice instead of brown rice or quinoa or pasta etc
• Seasonal local vegetables. Grow your own or seek out bargains such as greens from Asian grocers is often much cheaper than mainstream spinach or fashionable kale
• Foraged, wild foods and ‘weeds’ such as nettle and dandelion which are mineral-rich, full of flavor and a regular part of my diet. 

Cook from scratch

Making food from scratch is always going to be healthier and can often be cheaper than buying pre-prepared ingredients or meals.

• Bone broth made into vegetable soup or risotto
• Cooking and freezing or fermenting a glut of vegetables when in season. Fermented foods help your digestion to assimilate teeth healing nutrients from the rest of your food.
• Stews. casseroles and soups made with cheap cuts of meat with the bone in eg goat shank, ox tail. The slow cooking helps to release teeth healing minerals from the bones and cartilage.

Investing a little extra to cure tooth decay

Where I do choose to invest more money for teeth healing nutrition is usually on a small selection of staple foods of very high, though not highest, quality, and one supplement.  

Cod Liver Oil

Nordic Naturals Arctic Cod Liver Oil (without added vitamin D) is cold-pressed so not quite as teeth healing as the fermented brands of Amorica, Green Pastures and Rosita. However, it is the brand I healed, and have maintained, my teeth with so it works well enough for me at about $50 per month. I order it online from I-Herb which is the most affordable source of high quality supplements and  cheap postage- even to New Zealand.  (This is a rewards link, so if you do choose to purchase from I-Herb you will receive 5% off of your order, and I may receive a small discount on my next order too. Win win!)

Non-organic, grass-fed Butter

I’m lucky to live in the heart of dairy country in New Zealand, where grass-fed butter is the norm. New Zealand’s Anchor butter is exported to many countries and is one of the most affordable high-quality fast-grass-growth butters. I look out for it on special and freeze it (about $4 per week).

Sourdough bread

Slow-ferment sourdough is the least teeth-harming bread, so if you are access to a good sourdough bakery, or time to make your own slow fermented loaves this is a worthwhile investment (I make my own for about $2 per week).

Raw milk

When I can get it, I invest about $5 /week in raw milk. Raw milk is illegal to sell retail in most parts of the world, but in many places people get around the rules with creative solutions such as co-owning herds or purchasing directly from the farmer. Because raw milk is one of the best sources of  Activator-X (the super teeth-healing nutrient found only in a very few foods) it is worth going to the trouble and expense of seeking it out. However, if raw milk is not an option, invest in the best possible pasteurized milk:

• full-fat, whole milk as the most teeth healing nutrients are in the creamy milk fats
• grass-fed milk, especially in spring and summer when the grass grows fastest producing Activator X
• non-homogenised (homogenised milk may be actively harmful for teeth)
• fresh (not UHT or powdered which are actively teeth harming)

Free range, pastured, eggs

Eggs are a great source of protein, especially when eaten raw (I blend them with raw milk for a breakfast smoothie every day). Eggs from chickens fed only grain will not be so teeth healing, so avoid ‘cage-free’ or battery eggs. Even if grain is the majority of a chicken’s diet, eggs from pastured chickens that also eat grass and insects will be more nutritious for your teeth than cheaper eggs at $16/week.

Organic pasteurized cheese

Mainland brand cheese in New Zealand sells a block of milk organic cheddar cheese. It’s usually a few dollars more expensive than the equivalent non-organic cheese, but it does a better job of helping to cure tooth decay by being reliably grass-fed and free from GM feeds, pesticides and herbicides all of which inhibit the body’s ability to create teeth healing hormones and proteins.  I look out for it on special and buy in bulk when I can for about $6/week.