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Comment by jensen123 | Hacker News Reader

In 1939, the book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration was published. In it Weston A. Price explains that you can avoid cavities by eating a good diet. I wonder if most people will ever become aware of this. Probably not - they don't read much, and certainly not non-mainstream stuff like that book.

Edit: I would also recommend reading The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, since Weston A. Price did not get everything right.

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I'm really confused by your comment - isn't it general knowledge that poor diet causes cavities? I remember being taught this in public school as early as kindergarten, and having my dentists reinforce it my entire life.

However, I do believe that genetics also plays a large role in predisposition to cavities, with or without a healthy diet.

It's not the content of the book that this person is talking about, but rather their disdain for some constructed "people" for not reading. Not sure where the ire is coming from, but it's more of a "you're not wrong, you're just an asshole" comment.

But, here I am writing this and here you are reading it.

Ok, it's probably general knowledge that soda, candy etc. can cause cavities. What obviously is not common knowledge is that, with a good diet, it's possible to go through your whole life without getting a single cavity. Weston A. Price travelled around the world and looked at the teeth of many primitive tribes (still quite a few of them back in his days) and they had perfect teeth.

I would say genetics have larger role in this, you can have good diet and still have cavities.

Just example, a person with hyperthyroidism will have much more issues with teeth than someone who doesn't.

Streptococcus mutans + sugar = biofilm (plaque) + lactic acid

Lactic acid + tooth + time = cavity

Sufficient mineral content in saliva and replacement of hydroxide by fluoride in the bioapatite tooth matrix affects the time factor.

So there are four ways to completely avoid cavities.

  - Annihilate the mutans-type bacteria in your mouth, and prevent recolonization.
  - Do not eat sugars.
  - Remove all your teeth.
  - Die.

Obviously, the latter two solutions can have significant negative side effects on your lifestyle. The mutans biofilm plaque makes it difficult to eradicate the bacteria.

If your saliva is well buffered and mineralized, it would be very rare for pH to dip below 5.5 and have minerals leach out of the teeth. Diet would certainly also help in this respect, especially with regard to calcium, phosphate, fluoride, vitamin D, and vitamin K.

I believe that study shows that the correct diet will actually heal cavities, not just prevent them. I don't know if it has been shown to be true though.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/03/health/tooth-decay-causes/

> About 60% of the risk for tooth decay appears to be due to genetic factors, says Mary L. Marazita, director of the Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267319/

> Twin studies provide the opportunity to dissect the relative contribution of genetics and environment on dental caries variation. Accordingly, these studies can often suggest, but not prove, biological inheritance. Current evidence supports the notion that there is an inherited variation in enamel development that is associated with increased occurrence of dental caries. At present, these results are limited to specific populations with overt recognizable syndromes.

http://www.utimes.pitt.edu/?p=19115

> Personal habits, fluoride and genetic factors all play a role in the development of cavities. Age is a factor as well, said Vieira, who has devoted some of his research to uncovering which genes have an influence.

That just means that food commonly eaten in the US doesn't allow you to avoid cavities. It doesn't mean there are no such diets, nor that there aren't diets typical for some regions that avoid cavities.

Caries is also an infectious disease. It's extremely common but not everyone is infected. There are tribes that simply don't have it.

It's bizarre how many people seem to think that "eating a good diet" is easy. They may be under the impression that "easy to describe" and "easy to implement" are the same thing.

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