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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Healthy Living / Vegetarians Have More Cavities (vegans are even worse)

Vegetarians Have More Cavities (vegans are even worse)

by Sarah Pope / Updated: Aug 26, 2025 / Affiliate Links ✔

Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Research Confirms Wisdom of Traditional Societies
  • Dental Erosions Signal Nutrient Deficiencies

Examination of the multiple studies and research that reveal the two dietary food philosophies that result in the worst oral outcomes, including severe dental erosions (cavities). 

vegetarian with a cavity at the dentist

Contrary to the shrill globalist narrative that plant-based diets result in healthier humans, a blockbuster study published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that vegetarians are much more likely to suffer from tooth decay than their meat-eating counterparts.

The higher incidence of dental erosions occurs due to lower (more acidic) salivary pH levels and lower stimulated saliva flow than control subjects, who were matched by sex and age.

In addition, plant-based diets pose a greater risk for fractures according to a related, peer-reviewed study of over 55,000 people.

Specifically, the study found that those who consumed a vegetarian diet were:

…much more likely than age- and sex-matched controls to have dental erosions on some tooth surfaces, lower salivary pH levels, and lower stimulated saliva flow.

The rate of flow of saliva and consumption of vinegar-containing foods, citrus fruits, and acid berries was associated with the dental erosions noted. Diets that are excessively high in fruit juices were also found to erode dental enamel. (1)

In a similarly memory-holed study published in the journal Nutrition, Johanna Moynihan and Aubrey Sheiham authored “Dietary Patterns and Caries Trends in Children and Adolescents – A Review”.

The study found that vegetarians have higher caries rates compared to non-vegetarians, possibly due to increased consumption of fermentable carbohydrates present in nutritionally inferior plant-based diets. (2)

With vegans, the results are even worse.

Studies of the oral health of raw vegans have shown them to be shockingly prone to dental damage with almost twice as much severe erosion as the general population eating the SAD (Standard American Diet). (3)

Anecdotal reports from vegans themselves confirm the same. (4, 5)

Research Confirms Wisdom of Traditional Societies

These studies confirm what Dr. Weston A. Price DDS wrote about in his 1930s book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration regarding “the displacing foods of modern commerce.”

Dr. Price found that indigenous vegetarian cultures suffered from tooth decay at a higher rate than either the omnivore or the almost completely carnivorous cultures he studied.

In short, eating a vegetarian diet does not impart any sort of dental advantage over non-vegetarians.

In fact, when it comes to vegans, dental health is far worse than even the general population eating a primarily ultra-processed diet that (at least) includes meat.

Criticisms of What The Health, the pro-vegan documentary, reveal similarly ignored research.

The false claims in the book “Blue Zones” and the vegan bible, The China Study, are similarly misguided with shocking factual oversights, omissions, and data fudging.

Dental Erosions Signal Nutrient Deficiencies

At its root cause, tooth decay is an indication of lowered immune function and a higher susceptibility to degenerative disease in general.  

Have you ever heard of the term “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”?  This refers to the well-known historical practice of examining a horse’s teeth and gums to assess overall health elsewhere in the body.

People can similarly assess their level of general health and whether it is improving or declining by observing the health of their teeth and gums.

Rami Nagel, author of the book Cure Tooth Decay, states that the dentinal-fluid transport mechanism is how the body controls the rate of tooth decay, including whether or not it occurs at all.  

When tooth decay is present, Mr. Nagel says this is a sign that blood sugar levels are askew and that certain critical nutrients, such as the fat-soluble activators A, D, and K2 are lacking in the diet.

Vegetarian diets are typically much higher in hard-to-digest grains and acidic sugars (from fruit and fruit juices) than non-vegetarians, who consume a wider variety of foods.

When too much sugar is consumed, this can initiate demineralization of the teeth.  

Have you ever noticed how your teeth can get a bit sensitive for a period of time after a very sugary dessert or a day that included too many grain-based foods and treats?

If you are vegetarian and have noted a problem with dental decay, incorporating grass-fed meats, raw grass-fed dairy, wild seafood, and high-vitamin, virgin cod liver oil (this brand or this brand) into your diet will introduce the critical nutrients that are necessary to reverse caries and prevent further dental problems.

Moreover, whenever sweet foods such as fruit are consumed, they should always be eaten in the presence of healthy fat like cream to maintain stable blood sugar and not disrupt the body’s ability to transport minerals to the bones and teeth.

References

(1) The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Dec 2011

(2) Nutrients. Dietary Patterns and Caries Trends in Children and Adolescents – A Review, (volume 3, issue 3, pages 332-340)

(3) Dental Erosions in Subjects Living on a Raw Food [Vegan] Diet

(4) Does an unprocessed vegan diet cause tooth decay?

(5) How to Avoid Dental Nightmares on a Raw Food [Vegan] Diet

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Category: Healthy Living, Oral Health
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (95)

  1. Karen Pieroni

    Aug 28, 2025 at 9:04 am

    Good read but there is so much more to this. Weston Price discover this many many years ago but it was before processed food even existed. Our bodies were designed to eat healthy meat, eggs and dairy products. Without them we show signs of deficiency including tooth decay.

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope

      Aug 28, 2025 at 9:15 am

      Yes … there is a section in the article that discusses this.

  2. S

    Aug 27, 2025 at 2:43 am

    Great article! Too often veganism is wrapped up in politics! Grass fed meat is NOT the problem ever! Mostly it’s the junk foods, seed oils and other crud like white sugar! So instead of being a vegan purist, eat some grassfed meat or even a few pastured eggs every day (especially if they are organic and even better also not fed soy and corn)!

    Reply
  3. Heather Weinstock

    Aug 27, 2025 at 12:18 am

    Isn’t that the truth. I was vegan for 7 years in my 20’s. I wound up with 13 cavities, bad gums, and had to get a root canal. I didn’t return to meat until I found out I was going to have my first child at 28 (my husband bought me a celebratory ribeye) and then after I had my child, I came across the the WAPF website and found out that it was indeed my early 20’s vegan diet that caused harm to my teeth.

    Reply
  4. Angela Waterford

    Jan 2, 2020 at 8:09 am

    It’s shocking to know that living a vegetarian life can make me have a higher susceptibility to tooth problems. For this reason, I think it would be more important for me to visit a dentist for doing this. I’ve decided to become a vegetarian two months ago, and since I’m new to this lifestyle, I’m not yet familiar with the risks and benefits that it has, so it’s good to be aware of them as much as possible.

    Reply
  5. Alouette de Mer

    Dec 5, 2019 at 6:39 pm

    I’m vegetarian so how do I incorporate animal meat into my diet as you suggest?

    Reply
    • Katie

      Aug 26, 2025 at 10:08 pm

      This is purely anecdotal and I am not advocating for veganism/vegetarianism but I was a vegetarian since my childhood through my mid 20s and actually didn’t have any cavities until after I started eating meat. I was not a healthy vegetarian either and ate lots of sugar and junk. Just got me thinking, what was I doing that prevented tooth decay 🤔🧐

    • Sarah Pope

      Aug 27, 2025 at 9:09 am

      Perhaps it was just being young! Did you go on any antibiotics or other gut disrupting drugs in your mid-20’s that might have altered your microbiome for the worse? When the microbiome is off, digestion of nutrients is greatly affected.

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