Sunday, May 03, 2009

Fruitarianism and Teeth

Over the past few months I have received a surprising amount of email from people asking me what I think of the whole "fruitarian diet" & "teeth" thing..

Kveta and I - 2nd May 2009
Kveta and I out for a stroll on Congwong Beach

Some have refered directly to the fact that I myself have lost several teeth over the last decade or so..

clearly some people fear that a fruit or fruit based diet may be responsible for that, and internal nagging doubts, remind them of all the scaremongering about too much fruit sugars, and the effect it may have on ones teeth, bones etc..

Well, I have already written my story of how I came to lose my teeth, that recollection can be found here:

http://www.fruitnut.net/HTML/205_NonFiction_Fruit_Mango.htm

For sure, it would have been great if I'd succeeded in reaching fruitarianism without any damage to my teeth, I would have been able to proudly show off my full set and say, "look! a fruit diet is fine".. But for me, part of my journey took me through that hardship, and despite a year or more of on and off excruciating agony (probably the worst pains I've ever experienced - to the point of delirium), I managed to avoid ever consulting a dentist.

This I did despite an enormous amount of pier pressure that bad gum infections could potentially lead to death, I knew that I was on the right path, and that eventually, I would pull through. Which naturally, I did.

Yes, it's true, I have the same aversion toward dentists, as I do towards doctors, they are both part of an industry that has no benefit from us being healthy, and will offer no real assistance toward that goal.

Congwong beach
Admiring the view of the ocean

In my opinion, the only thing a doctor is good for, is stitching up wounds after accidents, or helping set fractured or broken bones. Other than that, they are just a glorified profession full of legalised drug dealers, that on the pretext of supposedly helping us, sell their wares, for which, just like the street drug peddler, they are greatly financially rewarded.. Addressing purely the suppression of symptoms, with little, if indeed any at all, regard for causes..

Similarly, other than telling us not to eat too many sweets, and to brush our teeth twice or more daily, dentists offer us no real knowledge as to why our teeth might not be perfect.. This is most likely because the industry as a whole is ignorant of the role that diet plays in our healths, including the effect the standard overcooked flesh and 2 veggies diet will have on our teeth.


Do you see it?

They just don't see it.

The medical industry is one of the worlds largest money spinners, and would have to seriously restructure and minimise itself, should we all turn around and eat what we are supposed to eat.

But I diverge.. Back to the issue of the fruitarian diet and teeth..

For some reason, it really still bugs me when people talk about fruit sugars, and mistakenly confuse them with sugar.. (- Trust me, I'm not someone that gets bugged all too easily!).

I mean, there's sugar, which is one thing.. A highly refined, fully processed denatured product that doesn't exist anywhere in nature, and then there's fully natural, designed by nature for us to enjoy and thrive on, fruit.. Which from a denatured scientific viewpoint, contains fruit sugars.. But the truth is, apart from the word sugar, the too have otherwise next to nothing in common. I think I'd prefer to call fruit sugars, fruit sweetness, and avoid the sugar thing altogether..

mango - All rugged up before braving it into the cold ocean
All rugged up before braving it into the autumn ocean

I lost my teeth, through a combination of eating unripe fruits, (which I cannot emphasis enough, are not ready to eat yet, and that doing so will have consequences- and likely none too pleasant ones!), and eating cooked foods. Had I been stronger willed, more determined, I could have avoided that issue together. But I wasn't, and I learned my lesson the hard way. Although I believe it made it sink in, and probably overall made me stronger..

braving it into the autumn sea
Into the autumn ocean I go

What makes me so sure that it wasn't just eating predominantly fruit that cause my teeth to fall out? Well, that's easy..

1. Since getting through that period of time with very weak teeth, my teeth have, if anything at all, strengthened themselves within my mouth (clearly, had the issue been fruit alone, my teeth would have progressively deteriorated, and would still be an issue, and causing me problems, which they are not, despite all those nasty beastly fruit sugars and the hardly ever brushing).

2. My teeth were already in a very weak state prior to my mango adventure, their health having been compromised on my previous cooked food diet, and the ever present assistance from what I once believe to be well meaning dentists, who had already given me a mouthful of countless fillings..


Me in the sea..


Of course, the fillings are still an issue, as since adopting my philosophy of non interference and letting my body heal itself, they are still there.. And occasionally, one might reach it's use by date, and fall out, but I don't mind.. I am glad to see the back of them!! I've been told I should have them removed, as they mostly all contain mercury, and their is the issue of poisoning, but I am sticking to my noninterference method, and intend for things to go their natural course.. Besides, I feel such an invasive procedure as mercury filling removal may do more harm than good.

Also, I believe that the body if left to it's use it's own inner wisdom, may possibly grow a 3rd set of teeth - there are documented cases, although rare.. If this should happen, all well and good, if not, no worries.. I'm not holding my breath..

Apart from the cosmetic issue of missing a few teeth, I really don't make a big deal of it, and the remaining teeth I have do their job in regards to chewing my food.

I don't believe in plastic surgery.

Peace, Mango.


Just came from the ocean


For answers to other questions, or feel free to ask your own (and I may answer via a blog post someday), see:

http://mangodurian.blogspot.com/2008/01/frequently-asked-questions-on.html

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

I’ve been a fruitarian for past 15 months. Last year at the beginning of the pomegranate season I ate lots of them, which were really sour, and I chewed their seeds really hard. As a result my teeth became sensitive. I searched a little bit online and I figured out that your teeth get sensitive if you specially do the combination of eating acidic food and chewing hard which was my case. Also it was recommended that anytime you eat or drink sour food, you’d better not to brush your teeth for an hour or so, but you may wash it with water.

Now my teeth get sensitive anytime I eat something real sour such as lime or tamarind. There’s good news too. Since I started fruitarian diet, I have not used toothpaste, toothbrush, or fluss, which I used to use on regular basis. Guess what! My dentist used to clean my teeth every six month, and now I do not need any cleaning. I had one tooth, which needed to be filled. I did not fill it, and the new x-ray showed it’s exactly like last year’s x-ray with no progress on decay. Also before fruitarian diet, he told me that my gum over one of my teeth is 3 millimeters recessed and he can fix it by surgery. I did not do the surgery. Last time in his office, he was so surprised that called his assistant and told her: look, his gum is curing; it’s 1 millimeter recessed now.

Mango, my experience completely confirms your statement. Fruitarian diet not only has nothing to do with your teeth becoming sensitive or in extreme circumstances such as yours getting lost, but also keeps them from decaying and cures your gum.

Happy Fruitarian,
Orange

Fruitarian Mango said...

Hi Orange,
great insightful feedback..thanks for that.. I am convinced that having fillings does nothing more than weaken the teeth in the long run.. I guess I must have had at least 20 fillings in my life.. Probably more..

Also it's worth baring in mind that statistically 50% of all of us loose at least one tooth by the age of 30 (regardless of diet).. And no doubt that percentage will increase exponentially as one gets older..

I'd love to see some communities of 3rd generation fruitarians, and see how their teeth are at adulthood.. Alas, to my knowledge, no such community exists.. yet..

peace,
mango

Anonymous said...

Hi Mango,

I completely agree with you. We as humans have been eating wrong food for long time. Now some of us as fruitarians got lucky to find out the lost path of eating the right food. We as the pioneers of this path may make some mistakes in our way. You and me and probably some other fruitarians hurt their teeth, because they ate too much unripe sour fruit. If we were born fruitarians, probably we did not learn it in hard way. We would have learned it from our parents or at least would have experienced it in our first set of teeth.

This is the price we pioneers pay to make the road even for others. Personally I believe this was well worth comparing the awards I received by switching to this path. By the way my sensitive teeth are getting better and better gradually, and I believe one day they will be completely recovered.

Animals living in the wild eating their right food which nature made for them, are keeping their teeth for the whole life healthy and they do not visit a dentist through all their lives. Why shouldn’t we as human who are the most improved in design animal keep our teeth, if we eat our right food cooked by nature?

Mango you are very welcome for sharing my experience. That was the least I could do versus the information I’ve received in your blog during past year. Actually thanks to you for putting this information out there for others like me and being honest about advantages and disadvantages of this path. When I first was looking for an online source to get information about fruitarian, your blog was the only one I found that I felt I could trust. I really appreciate your effort and honesty.

Happy fruitarian,
Orange

Teddy David Strider said...

I heard of many cases where teeth have recovered. I am one. Even though i have only been fruitarian for a short month, my gums used to be red/inflamed from cooked. i was vegan for 2 months b4 truly discovering the logic\understanding fruitarianism. My gums were not as bad as vegan but now they are a lively pink looks like something i saw in a poster in the dentists office for healthy gums, but even better. in only a month?!! i cant wait to see other benefits. The wilder part is that im stilling detoxing while this is going on. I know detox lasts about 4 months; seeing results while im detoxing is amazing. Mango i cant thank you enough i want to live in Australia now. I think we are meant for a tropical/subtropic warm environments. I think technology and other advances allowed us great benefits, such as us communicating right now, but have also enabled people to spent their life in colder places, where they generally would not survive? just one of my theories. I know we are neanderthals fit for colder places. Im in the process of figuring out what kind of work i would do, and where to live at. I dont want to stay in a city. I am looking at north Queensland. Also Orange you might want to check out
Dr. Doug Graham. He has a book 80/10/10 about fruitarianism and I go to 30bananasaday.com for some education too. Love
TdS

jimpurdy1943@yahoo.com said...

I'm trying to go on a mostly fruitarian (non-sweet fruit like tomatoes and bell peppers) diet. I found your comments about teeth to be very interesting, but I don't think I would ever let a toothache go untreated. I'll be interested in following your story, and good luck with that third set of teeth.

Tinah said...

Read your unripe fruit story today, with the teeth. There was an enchanting quality to it, with the drums, the phrase jah will provide, and everything at once. that was beautiful. thanks for sharing your story!

-Tinah

Fruitarian Mango said...

Teddy,
great to hear of your progress.. yeah, australia is a great place to live, and i'm very impatient to finally leave sydney and head up to the tropics in queensland.. teddy, if you believe in the 100% fruit diet, ie, no nuts, greens etc, and plan on being there, or are already, would you be up for being interviewed?

thanks jim.. my stories still unfolding. I am not recommending anyone do as i did.. Just recounting my own saga. people have to make their own choices in life, and reach their own conclusions. Mine may not necessarily be correct, even if I fully believe they are..

Tinah, glad you liked my story.. I feel a little mesmorised by it rereading it too.. I guess everything happens for a reason.

peace to all,
mango

Anonymous said...

I am 15 and a vegan. I have some cooked foods...I want to go mostly raw. I certainly can't eat all fruit now...but raw fruits and veggies and seeds work. I don't eat any animals or fish. :)
Now I've had a few fillings but do you think that I will lose my teeth if I go raw? Or will they naturally heal on their own? I would love some helpful advice I live in California too. Thank you. Mac.

Anonymous said...

Also...maybe your teeth will grow back...I think It could happen
Love, Mac.

Fruitarian Mango said...

Hiya Mac! For the teeth, I believe if you do it right, and don't make the same mistakes I made, I see absolutely no reason why your teeth should be lost. Mine were already in a bad state before I started eating fruit.. but starting at just 15, i would imagine that you teeth must still be fairly fresh and firm, so I think you need not worry.. As for them healing, sure, I believe certain damage may be corrected, but I think after a certain amount of damage they may already be beyond repair.. but like yourself, I also believe in a 3rd set.. and i guess also, in contradicting what I just said, i reckon that nothing is fully beyond repair.. so i'll take that back.. i think we really don't know fully just how the human body is capable of healing. I'm an eternal optimist..

Good luck on your journey!!!
peace,
mango.

Unknown said...

hey mango,
i just started the fruitarian diet and wondered if i should have all my fillings removed. I read your section on 'non-interference' but do you think that there could be any problems if i have them removed and not replaced?

Fruitarian Mango said...

hi thimotheus,
i really think that's a decision that you alone should take/make.. i chose noninterference, but whether or not that would be the right decision for you is really for you alone to chose.. ultimately it's about the path that you are choosing to take, and i wish you every success on that journey!
peace,
mango.

PDX Shenanigans said...

I so wanted to read the link you provided to read about what happened to your teeth. However, the link doesn't work and it won't take you anywhere. Is it possible to fix that?

Thanks

Fruitarian Mango said...

Carb, seems to be a bandwidth problem.. I only pay the minimum to keep fruitnut.net up and running.. I've run into some problems with it lately, and have been unable to restore it successfully, but I am guessing that within 24 hours that page may be available again.. Although in the future I may have to remove the whole website due to technical difficulties I can't get my head around..

Jessica said...

Dear Mango,

Please don't remove your website.
You can't imagine how much all these information in here helped to go on with my Fruitarian journey. It helped me tons and I am sure it will also help many others in the future.

Love,

Jessica

karen kellock said...

I started on banana date smoothies. the tooth pain is excruciating. bananas and dates are the only things i can get organic. should i just persevere and hope it all changes--into pain free?

karen kellock said...

DATES-----should i stop the dates with this kind of tooth pain? excruciating

can't get anything else organic

Steven The Holistic Health Coach said...

I hope you stopped eating highly acidic and sweet foods, tooth pain and sensitivity is often a sign of tooth enamel degeneration and cavities forming or worsening. Everyone is better off limiting sugar and sweets, naturally found in fruit, or refined sugar, and finding ways to alkalize the mouth and body, such as eat more greens. Vitamin and mineral supplements are really important also, but you must work with your healthcare provider if you would like specific reccomendations. Stay healthy!

Fruitarian Mango said...

Karen Kellock, I sincerely hope that your tooth pain is now a thing of the past! Sorry I never saw your comment before… I would have advised concentrating more on fresh juices than dates and bananas… All pain eventually subsides.

Stephen, thank you for your advice, I hear it, but I don't agree with it. If you've read what I've written, you will know that the tooth problems I had in the past, were not caused by eating too much sweet fruit. Sorry, but I simply don't believe that anyone is better off limiting fruit intake, but I advise you to work with your health care provider if you need specific recommendations. Stay healthy.

Fruitarian Mango said...

Just for the record, I am my own health care provider (I don't believe in giving anybody else that job!), and I'm following my own advice to keep eating more fruit.. I do appreciate that your advice is well meant Steven, but we are clearly both on different chapters.. Have you read my books yet?

Chris said...

Do you see most fruterians with mouths full of fillings and caries?are they loosing their teeth or have extreme evidence of dental damage from the average person?how many years are you a fruterian?

karen kellock said...

Older fruitarians usually have dentures. It's just easier after all that trouble

Fruitarian Mango said...

I think the thing to really understand here, is that we practicing fruitarians are a rare breed. Tooth loss/decay/dental problems these are all pretty common with everyone, fruitarians and nonfruitarians alike, but the major difference between the 2, is that fruitarians, least the ones I know, stop visiting the dentist. If I had never stopped my 6 monthly dental checkups, my teeth would appear "normal" to everyone. But I haven't seen a dentist in over years 30 years, and when I did see one, long before I changed my diet, I was always having cavities blocked, teeth capped and roots filled.. I'd wager that if the average person, on an average western diet, was never given access to a dentist, that by the time they were my age (60), they would have half their teeth or more gone..

I am personally convinced that the major damage that was done to my teeth happened before I made changes, I doubt I had a single tooth that hadn't been worked on to some degree, and as we know, every artificial add on to the teeth has an expiry date..

To be sure, once more, I made mistakes, I ate too much unripe fruit which really was a bad and stubborn choice made more out of living off grid and not having an income, but had I been of a different persuasion, had access to more money and wanting to go down the dentist path, then I could have fixed that up tout suite just as I did with every other dental problem I'd had in the past.. Do I regret my choices? Honestly, not really, my life has been a blessing on so many fronts, and I look back with fond memories on even the more difficult days knowing that they were necessary to learn the lessons I have..

peace&love to yous all..

Chris said...

Its all the sucrose molecules and free sugars in general with the acidity that's is damaging our teeth..how many years a fruterian? artificial sweetening of course is way more damaging through sugar in every day products..cakes biscuits chocholate candies