How to Heal Cavities Naturally: Treatments and Home Remedies
Cavities aren’t just annoying and painful. They’re also potentially dangerous. Sadly, there aren’t a lot of options to heal cavities naturally once you have them. However, you can definitely prevent cavities with healthy choices and natural remedies.
Can You Heal Cavities Naturally?
By definition, a cavity is a permanent damage to the enamel of your teeth. Since enamel doesn’t heal naturally, neither do cavities.
A dentist is the only person who can fix a cavity. If you suspect that you have a cavity, reach out to a dentist immediately.
However, there are plenty of things you can do to prevent cavities or at least stop their decay. But first, let’s learn about how cavities form to understand what you need to do.
Why Do Cavities Form?
We learned that sugar’s the most common culprit when it comes to cavities and tooth decay. Eating carbohydrates (aka sugar and starches) such as milk, candy, soda, and cakes feed that bacteria in your mouth. That bacteria produces acids, and over time, these acids destroy your enamel.
The end result is a cavity. That’s why sugar causes cavities, and cutting it out can certainly help your dental health in many ways. Or, at least regular dental hygiene can get rid of the bacteria.
But, is this the whole truth?
The Unofficial Reason That You Get Cavities
There are groups of indigenous people who never brush or floss. They have fermentable carbohydrates stuck on their teeth all the time. Yet, they don’t experience tooth decay or cavities. How can that be?
The truth is, eating sugar isn’t the only reason you can get cavities. Instead, we can dial the main causes of cavities to:
- Lack of minerals in the diet (calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus)
- Lack of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) in the diet
- Too much consumption of phytic acid-rich foods
- Too much consumption of processed sugar
When a diet lacks the proper vitamins and nutrients, the blood chemistry and the ratio of calcium and phosphorus become out of balance, causing the minerals to be pulled out of our bones and teeth and resulting in bone loss and tooth decay.
What Is Phytic Acid?
Phytic acid is a natural substance found in plant seeds. It’s known to impair the absorption of iron, zinc, and calcium, and may promote mineral deficiencies. In short, eating phytic acid increases your risk of cavities.
However, consuming phytic acid-rich foods isn’t all bad. It also has some positive health benefits. It contains antioxidant properties and may help prevent kidney stones and cancer.
It might even be part of the reason the risk of colon cancer may be reduced with a diet that includes whole grains.
So, we don’t need to stay away from phytic acid altogether. And that's a good thing because so many of the foods on our phytic acid-rich foods list are also on our superfoods list.
Instead, a well-balanced diet that contains both plant-based and animal protein can significantly reduce the effects of the phytate.
List of Foods That Contain Phytic Acid
A significant number of foods are rich in phytic acid. They include the following:
- Almonds
- Barley
- Beans
- Brazil Nuts
- Hazelnuts
- Lentils
- Maize
- Millet
- Oat
- Peas
- Rice
- Rye
- Sesame Seeds
- Sorghum
- Soybeans
- Tofu
- Triticale
- Walnuts
- Wheat
- Wheat Bran
- Wheat Germ
- Wild Rice
This is not an exhaustive list.
There are plenty of other foods that are rich in phytic acid. And it's important to note that the phytic acid content varies in all of these foods. It is higher in wild rice than in white rice, for example.
How to Avoid Phytic Acid to Prevent Cavities Naturally
It’s not reasonable to cut out all of these phytic-acid rich foods from your diet. Overall, they’re very healthy for you. However, if they increase your risk of cavities, how can you counteract their negative effects?
Luckily, there’s a way.
One way a person can counteract the mineral absorption issue is by altering the food's form to reduce the phytic acid content. This can be done through soaking, sprouting, and fermentation.
By simply reducing the content of phytic acid in these foods rather than eliminating it allows us to reap the benefits of both worlds.
8 Steps to Heal and Prevent Cavities Naturally
While you can’t patch up lost enamel, you can prevent the further spread of a cavity by focusing on these enamel-strengthening home remedies.
1. Eat Nutrient-Rich Foods
The most important thing you do to avoid cavities is to eat healthy, nutrient-rich foods. Coconut oil, grass-fed organic dairy, grass-fed meats, seafood and organic cooked vegetables are great for your teeth.
2. Brush and Floss Regularly
A regular and proper dental hygiene routine is crucial to prevent and treat cavities. It can also prevent a host of other dental and oral problems.
Brush, floss, and scrape your tongue twice a day for two minutes at a time. You can also use mouthwash to complement your oral hygiene.
It’s best to brush your teeth once when you wake up and once before you go to sleep. Just make sure you leave a thirty minute gap between eating and brushing to keep your enamel healthy.
3. Get Plenty of Vitamin D
Mineral deficiency is a common reason for cavities. And Vitamin D is an easy one to forget. Taking supplements is one way to restore your body’s vitamin needs. But, even as little as 10 minutes of natural sunshine on your skin is enough to produce plenty of vitamin D.
However, it’s best to always wear sunscreen when you’re in the sun. Sunburns are the leading cause of skin cancer. They also cause wrinkles, freckles, and dark patches. Don’t worry, putting on sunscreen will only protect you, it won’t diminish your efforts to heal cavities naturally.
4. Avoid Processed Foods
If you want to avoid cavities, you need to cut out sugar and other processed foods. Candy, fizzy drinks, and fast food all contain copious amounts of sugar, preservatives, and chemicals. And the bacteria that create cavities love these.
5. Watch Out for Phytic Acid
While you shouldn’t cut out foods with high phytic acid, you should definitely watch out how much you consume. Soak or ferment them before eating to lower their phytatic value.
Additionally, pairing phytic acid-rich foods with animal proteins can also lower their negative effects.
6. Drink Plenty of Water
Dry mouth is a serious condition. It’s when your salivary glands don’t produce enough saliva. However, being thirsty often isn’t the only side effect.
Your saliva plays a crucial role in washing away plaque and bacteria from your teeth. With a dry mouth, you increase the risk of cavities. Drinking plenty of water to make up for lack of saliva can effectively heal cavities easily and naturally.
7. Use Fluoride Toothpaste
Fluoride has the power to harden enamel. This makes your teeth less susceptible to form cavities. Most types and brands of toothpaste contain fluoride, but make sure to check your toothpaste is one of them.
8. Try Coconut Oil Pulling
Coconut oil pulling is simply putting a spoonful of coconut oil into your mouth and swishing it around for five minutes. The oil sticks to the bacteria on your teeth and pulls them off. 5 minutes every day can effectively clean the parts of your teeth your toothbrush can’t reach well.
Only a Dentist Can Truly Heal Cavities
While these natural methods and home remedies for keeping cavities at bay are great, once you have cavities, the only way to fix them is to go to the dentist. Otherwise, you risk losing your tooth.
Your dentist will recommend a suitable solution to heal your cavities, which may involve fillings, crowns, or root canals. Sadly, dental procedures like these often cost a lot of money. Sometimes, even your insurance doesn’t cover them.
Luckily, you can save a lot of money at participating dentists with a Carefree Dental Card.
You can save between 15%-50%* per visit in most instances. In short, you can get treatment for your cavity and keep more money in your wallet for just $15.95/month for individuals, and $19.95/month for families.
Sign up for a Carefree Dental Card today to heal your cavities at a lower cost.
The Carefree Dental blog is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The text and pictures within the content are intended for information purposes only. Readers should consult with a licensed dentist or healthcare professional before seeking treatment.
The Carefree Dental Card is not insurance and Carefree Dental is not an insurance provider.
