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A study published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds that vegetarians are much more likely to suffer from tooth decay, lower (more acidic) salivary pH levels, and lower stimulated saliva flow than control subjects that 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. (1)
Conclusions from the study found that:
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)
The study confirms what Dr. Weston A. Price DDS in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, discovered on his 10-year journey around the world studying isolated, traditional societies still untouched by what he termed “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.
The published study concluded that eating a vegetarian or vegan diet does not in any way impart a dental health advantage over non-vegetarians. Criticisms of What The Health, the pro-vegan documentary, reveal similarly ignored research.
The baloney-based claims in the book Blue Zones and the vegan bible The China Study are similarly misguided with shocking factual oversights, omissions, and data fudging.
Tooth Decay Signals Poor Immunity and Nutrient Deficiencies
Tooth decay is an indication of lowered immune function and a higher susceptibility to degenerative disease in general. 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 grains and sugars (from fruit) than non-vegetarians, and when the body senses too much sugar at one time, this can initiate demineralization of the teeth. 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 cod liver oil into your diet will introduce the critical nutrients that are necessary to reverse caries and prevent further 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.
Reference and More Information
(1) The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 27 Dec 2011, 712-738
Correction. I have been vegetarian for 16 years and moved back to the US 14 years ago.
I was an omnivore until 14 years ago when I decided to become completely vegetarian. My kids were raised mostly vegetarian and now at 27 and 24 years old, my daughter has had no cavities. My boy had one when he was very young and at the time, an omnivore. Recently his dentist said that he had a cavity on each one of his 4 wisdom teeth, that he then had filled, but I didn’t see these cavities and he didn’t feel them, so I just wonder if they were really there. Anyway, between the 2, my son eats more of a vegan diet than my daughter, a lacto-ovo vegetarian, like me.
I read the Weston Price study. It didn’t say that whole grains were bad. It said that refined grains are detrimental to teeth and lead to decay. Price stressed the importance of whole grains and whole foods. He didn’t talk against a vegetarian diet. He regretted not having been able to find a vegetarian culture to study its effects on teeth.
You need to separate Weston Price from the foundation named after him which takes liberties in interpreting Price’s findings. I have been studying this issue and I think that a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet is just as successful as an omnivore diet in preventing tooth decay. However, I am not as certain about the vegan diet.
The problem with this article is that it asserts that one’s tooth decay can signal their general level of health, then explains more precisely what it symbolizes– too high blood sugar: far from “general health.”
Since there are no vitamins in meat that cannot be found in plants (except B12), the answer is nothing more than the trend of vegetarians eating more sugar and grains than meat-eaters. We know that neither vegetarianism nor veganism demand these things; it’s a trend of vegetarianism and vegans.
Therefore, more tooth decay, and therefore– according to the suspicious underlying argument of this article– vegetarians have worse general health, and vegetarianism is less healthy.
The takeaway to this article should have been that we all need to concern ourselves with our intake sugar and grains if we’re concerned with our dental health (and vegetarians in particular), but for some reason unknown to me, the author took this as a opportunity to discredit a diet for which there is increasing evidence could prevent a score of health problems.
Read about the ADA’s stance on vegetarianism here:
Vegetarians need to pay closer attention to their oral health http://t.co/9bKhox6S.
I think it is always important to just read the data, and draw your OWN conclusions on any subject. We are ALL tied to OUR own experiences; we learn differently; we grow in knowledge at different rates and we come to conclusions when ALL of the differences come together to help us understand the world around us. I really enjoy this blog, because there is always at least one person who makes a comment that just “connects a dot” for me! As long as the author of the comment is polite and only asks consideration of their ideas, I have no problem with it. As a society, we must allow ideas and information to FLOW! Thanks Sarah, for allowing that on your blog! Just an aside: while we were at the WESTON PRICE CONFERENCE in Dallas, one of the speakers, (a lifelong scientist) noted that another speaker made a statement that was the last piece of the puzzle for something that she had been studying for YEARS! She was so appreciative! That just thrilled me so much, to see that EVERYONE is trying to figure things out and sometimes we help each other without even knowing it! Keep it coming Sarah! I love it when you make us THINK!!!!!
Another point against vegetarianism! http://t.co/FSDQpXa8
Interesting article here, matches many of our blog articles, too. http://t.co/RYK8GgV1
This article is a good example that it is important to determine the right diet for one’s biochemistry in order to… http://t.co/NKv79RVl
New Study: Vegetarians Have More Tooth Decay – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/GVrNNhic
New Study: Vegetarians Have More Tooth Decay http://t.co/mbV9K3FE