Remineralize Your Teeth Naturally

Your teeth are a type of tissue with a hard enamel exterior. That exterior is made of mineral components containing mostly a calcium phosphate salt with small amounts of sodium, chloride, and magnesium. The enamel can be damaged by bacteria in a process called demineralization, which leads to cavities and other dental problems. If you understand some preventative methods and follow a few simple steps, you can help remineralize your teeth.[1]

Steps

Practicing Proper Oral Hygiene

  1. Brush your teeth. You need to brush your teeth at least twice a day with a soft toothbrush. Teeth can be damaged by brushing too hard or using toothbrushes with hard bristles. Leave the toothpaste in your mouth without rinsing. You should spit out the extra foam, but don’t rinse your mouth out with water. You want to give the minerals some time to be absorbed onto your teeth.
    • Don’t forget to brush your tongue.[2][3]
  2. Floss your teeth. You need to floss your teeth daily. Use about 18 inches of floss. Wind most of the floss around the middle finger of one hand and the rest around the middle finger of the other hand. Hold the floss firmly between your thumb and your forefinger and gently guide the floss between all your teeth using a gently back and forth motion. You need to curve the floss around the bottom of each tooth.
    • Once the floss is between the teeth, use a gentle up-and-down motion to rub each side of each tooth. When you are done with one tooth, unwind more floss and move on to the next tooth.[4]
  3. See you dentist. Before you go through the steps for remineralization, make sure you actually need to. Make an appointment with a dentist to check the health of your teeth. After you start the process, you will need to continue seeing your dentist to make sure these methods are helping. This can only be determined by a dental examination.
    • You should see your dentist regularly. This will keep your teeth healthier. You should also get your teeth professionally cleaned as much as is recommended by your dentist.
  4. Get evaluated by the dentist. When you visit the dentist, she will evaluate your dental health and assess how well you are caring for your teeth and gums. The dentist will also determine if there is a risk for cavities. This will involve a teeth exam and some X-rays. She may also ask you to swish a fluoridated remineralization solution in your mouth for a few minutes.
    • The dentist will also look for any signs of cancer or jaw problems.
  5. Follow your dentist's suggestions. The dentist will let you know if your teeth need remineralization. If your teeth do need remineralization, discuss your plans with the dentist so they know about them. Only a dentist can confirm your teeth are remineralized.

Using Toothpastes and Washes

  1. Use fluoride dental products. Fluoride is put into toothpaste and dental rinses to replace the calcium component in the enamel compounds with fluorapatite, a substance that is resistant to demineralization by acids. Fluoride toothpastes help remove bacterial plaques and can strengthen tooth enamel. Fluoride ions replace calcium ions, which strengthens the enamel. [5][6]
    • Fluoride can also help the process of remineralization in part because it is anti-microbial, killing off the oral bacteria that often is an underlying cause for teeth to lose their enamel.[7][8][9]
    • If your teeth are sensitive, use a toothpaste for sensitive teeth. These types of toothpaste can help reduce gum inflammation as well.[2]
    • There are some tooth remineralization toothpastes, liquids, and powders. Ask your dentist for her recommendations. You should also only use a fluoride toothpaste with a seal from the American Dental Association.
    • You can also use a special toothpaste meant to rebuild enamel, such as Squigle Enamel Saver toothpaste, which has fluoride in it.
  2. Buy fluoride-free remineralizing paste. Fluoride is helpful but not necessary for remineralization. It makes the teeth stronger, but teeth don’t actually contain the substance the toothpaste puts back into them. Because of this, there are ways to remineralize without fluoride. Toothpastes without fluoride reduce the bacteria in your mouth. They do this with xylitol, a sugar alcohol that reduces the adherence of plaque-forming bacteria to your teeth.
    • These toothpastes also replace the calcium and phosphate used in your tooth enamel.[10][4]
    • Common toothpastes without fluoride Redmond Earthpaste, Dr Collins Restore toothpaste, Apagard Premio toothpaste, and Tom’s of Maine Cavity protection.
  3. Make your own remineralizing toothpaste. Instead of buying over the counter toothpaste, you can make your own at home. Use 4 tablespoons of calcium carbonate powder. You get this powder from crushing calcium carbonate tablets or by buying the calcium powder in bulk. Add to it 2 tablespoons baking soda, ½ to 1 packet of stevia, and 1 teaspoon sea salt. Mix together. To that, add enough coconut oil to make a paste. Once it is a paste, add a few drops of peppermint oil until it is minty enough for you. Mix completely. Dip your toothbrush into the paste and brush.
    • You can make a larger batch of this at any time, just seal it in a jar and keep it in the refrigerator to keep it from spoiling.
    • If you want to whiten your teeth or have stubborn stains, add 2 teaspoons of 3% hydrogen peroxide. It will cause some foaming and perhaps some tingling, but don't worry. That is normal. Hydrogen peroxide is antibacterial and works as a bleaching agent. Don’t use anything stronger than a 3 % solution because higher concentrations can burn and irritate the gums and mouth.[11][12]

Maintaining Diet and Nutrition

  1. Avoid all forms of sugar. Tooth demineralization is associated with a number of dietary habits. If you want to remineralize your teeth, avoid all sugar. You should also avoid all processed starches, which affect your teeth the same way as sugar. Bacteria grows quickly in the presence of sugar, so you want to minimize how much you feed these bacteria. You should avoid all processed and pre-packaged food such as breads, cookies, cakes, chips, and crackers.[13]
    • You should also avoid soda and any other sweetened drinks. These tend to contain a lot of added sugar. They also are acidic and can damage the enamel that way as well.
    • If you are not sure what is in a food, read the label. If sugar, high fructose corn syrup, cane syrup, or another sweetener is listed, avoid it.[14]
    • If you enjoy sweets, try to limit the sweets you eat to honey, which is anti-bacterial, and stevia, an herb that is 200 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia also has the added benefit of being calorie free.[15][16]
    • Artificial sweeteners like aspartame are chemically very different from sugar, but they essentially fool the brain into thinking that something is sweet.[17]
  2. Moderate certain fruits. When trying to remineralize your teeth, you should limit the amounts of citrus fruits you eat. If you do eat citrus, you should rinse your mouth out with water to decrease the amount of acid.
    • The sugar in fruit is another type of sugar that is not as popular with bacteria. This means you do not have to limit the intake of non-citrus fruits such as apples, pears, or peaches.
  3. Increase saliva production. Stimulating the production of saliva naturally helps remineralize your teeth. When you eat, you should chew every bite completely. Chewing promotes the production of saliva. You can also chew mint flavored sugar free gum or eat sugar free hard candy to help promote saliva production in your mouth.
    • Sour foods also tend to increase saliva production, but sour foods are acidic, so be careful with have much of these foods you eat.[18]
  4. Take a mineral supplement. There are multiple kinds of mineral supplements you can take. You can take a multivitamin, but make sure it includes minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Any daily supplement you take for your teeth should contain at least 1000 mg of calcium and at least 3-4000 mg of magnesium. These minerals help rebuild tooth enamel naturally.
    • Men older than 71 and women older than 51 should get 1200 mg every day.[19]
    • Children have different mineral needs, so make sure you consult a doctor or use a children's multivitamin to decide on the right amount per day.[20]
  5. Eat foods high in Vitamin D. When you are trying to remineralize your teeth, you need to increase your intake of Vitamin D. You can do this by eating foods rich in the vitamin. These foods include fish, soy milk, coconut milk, cow’s milk, eggs, and yogurt.[21]
  6. Get Vitamin D other ways. If you want to get Vitamin D in ways other than food, you can take a supplement or get it from the sun. Adults and children should get about 600 IU of Vitamin D every day, so find a supplement that has this much Vitamin D in it per dose. You can also get extra Vitamin D by spending about 10-15 minutes every third day in the afternoon sun without sunscreen. You should expose the arms, legs, and back if you can.[22][21]
    • Adults over 70 years should get 800 IU of Vitamin D every day.
    • You should take Vitamin D, calcium, and magnesium together to increase your chances of teeth remineralization.
  7. Drink lots of water. You should drink 6-8 eight ounce glasses of water without minerals a day. You should drink water to stay hydrated, since other beverages will not hydrate as well because they contain ingredients such as sugar, caffeine, or protein. Hydration also increases saliva production, which helps remineralize and protect your teeth.
    • You don't have to drink water with minerals in it. For the most part, you can get your minerals from eating well.
    • Tap water will also contain minerals, though the amount and what sort depend on where you live. You can check the mineral content of your local water online.[23]
  8. Try oil pulling. Oil pulling is a method where you hold and then swish oil around your mouth once a day. There have been small studies using coconut oil or sesame oil that show this method can reduce bacterial plaques and gum inflammation. In the morning, put 1 tablespoon of sesame oil into your mouth before any food or liquid is taken. With your mouth closed and your chin tilted upwards swirl the oil around your mouth, moving it around your mouth and in between your teeth. Also move your mouth as if you were chewing as you swirl around the liquid. Continue for 15-20 minutes, then spit out the oil.[24][12]
    • After you spit the oil out, you should brush your teeth and wash out your mouth. You also should drink 2-3 glasses of water.
    • Do no gargle the oil like you would other mouth rinses.



Tips

  • To improve oral hygiene and help remineralize your teeth, you should not smoke. If you do smoke, you should try to quit to help remineralize your teeth.

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1516-14392003000300011&script=sci_arttext
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/dental/art-20045536
  3. ↑ http://www.rdhmag.com/articles/print/volume-30/issue-1/feature/remineralization-implementation.html
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1291185
  5. ↑ http://fluoridealert.org/articles/50-reasons/
  6. ↑ http://www.ada.org/en/science-research/ada-seal-of-acceptance/product-category-information/toothpaste
  7. ↑ http://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/wdj/print/volume-4/issue-9/focus-on-orthodontics/demineralization-and-remineralization-the-battle-to-keep-teeth-strong-and-healthy.html
  8. ↑ http://www.livescience.com/37123-fluoridation.html
  9. ↑ http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11809/earth-materials-and-health-research-priorities-for-earth-science-and
  10. ↑ http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Fluoride/Pages/Introduction.aspx
  11. ↑ http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/natural-beauty-fashion/stories/3-simple-homemade-toothpaste-recipes
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0335.html
  13. ↑ http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijd/2010/981072/
  14. ↑ http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm267499.htm
  15. ↑ Brudzynski K, Sjaarda C.Honey glycoproteins containing antimicrobial peptides, jelleins of the major royal jelly protein 1, are responsible for the cell wall lytic and bactericidal activities of honey. PLoS One. 2015 Apr 1;10(4):e0120238.
  16. ↑ http://www.livescience.com/39601-stevia-facts-safety.html
  17. ↑ Suez J, Korem T, Zeevi D, Zilberman-Schapira G, Thaiss CA, Maza O, Israeli D, Zmora N, Gilad S, Weinberger A, Kuperman Y, Harmelin A, Kolodkin-Gal I, Shapiro H, Halpern Z, Segal E, Elinav E., Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota. Nature. 2014 Oct 9;514(7521):181-6.
  18. ↑ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1774376
  19. ↑ http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/calcium-supplements/art-20047097?reDate=22042015
  20. ↑ http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/magnesium-supplement-oral-route-parenteral-route/proper-use/drg-20070730
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-do-i-get-the-vitamin-d-my-body-needs/
  22. ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/faqs/dental_fluorosis/index.htm
  23. ↑ http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/80400525/Articles/NDBC32_WaterMin.pdf
  24. ↑ Saravanan, D., Ramkumar, S., Vineetha, K. Effect of Oil Pulling with Sesame Oil on Plaque-Induced Gingivitis: A Microbiological Study. J Orofac Res (2013) 3(3). 175-180.

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