Hi, what part of your brushing technique do you think this is attributable to?

My gums are badly receded - the dentist told me it was from brushing too hard and they'll never grow back.

I brush gently, 1-3 times a day. Using a soft bristle.

Brush across the teeth. DOnt try to get down into the gums. Remove most of the gunk and get the baking soda all around the teeth.

And only brush with baking soda now. Started using baking soda just a few months ago. I do not rinse my mouth but let the baking soda linger.

The new pH of the mouth, due to baking soda, is supposed to kill the bad bacteria and promote the better ones. Much of mouth health is due to the bad bacteria.

Also food choices made a difference. When I stick to a very low carb diet, the bad bacteria dont have the foods available they like. Think sugar and starchy foods.

I highly recommend Dr Lin's book The Dental Diet. I have made other changes too: huge increase in vitamin D3 now at 10,000 units a day, was 6,000 units a day over the summer. ANd added vitamin K2, Mk-7. Most people dont get nearly enough vitamin C. And his book covers much more on eating for better dental health.

IMHO putting all this together has helped. Im not so long in the tooth either. How much this will improve who knows, but Im willing to give it time as I hope to keep my teeth forever.

Hope this helps.

If you try this I hope you will post and update on your progress.

( try to get your local library to buy the book, otherwise for far less than a cleaning)

Another ah-ha moment..... meat fiber got stuck between teeth and needed removing by flossing. I dont floss as a rule. IT is annoying. But this bit of food needed to go. Flossed all my teeth since I had it out and my gums didnt hurt, so looked at the floss. NO BLOOD. FLossed AGAIN, barely a speck. Im still in shock. Bleeding, painful gums had been the norm when flossing.

Had 6 mo check up last month and wanted to provide update.

Tech did not mention pocket until I did. We talked at length about diet-- though could not get her to see the effects of low carb.

Explained that I brushed with baking soda and she carefully poibnted out the strong abrasiveness of that. Ecplained that I brush lightly now, across the teeth and not slamming down into the gum line, Spread the baking soda all over the interior of my mouth. She was polite but reiterated the abrassiveness to some extent.

What I can say with certainty is that my " long in the tooth" look is noticeably less. The "pocket" is almost gone but not fully-- catches strings of meat between the teeth now, not hiding in the pocket anymore. Teeth are slippery clean more often than not. Seems to combat carb consumption better than tooth paste. Eating low carb AND brushing with baking soda has a better effect combined.

Wondering-- labels o toothbrushes are not true: "soft" new brush was more like a "hard" brush. Went back to old brush that has stiffened up, but is still much softer than the new "soft" brush. Goal is to gently brush gums, tongue and roof of mouth, and then hold manageable amount of baking soda laden fluid in mouth for a moment. Not two minute of brushing, but rather much of time is baking soda in mouth before spitting.

If baking soda is somewhat abrasive, how to the techniques of "polishing" teeth stack up against brushing? I am now wondering if twice a year cleaning is really necessary, perhaps once is enough?

Keeping up with Vit K2, multi-vite, vit D, and Mg citrate. Dropped calcium-- enough infoods, to bring other major minerals into better balance with Ca. Easy to get too much Ca, but getting Mg, potassium and phosphorus in sufficient amounts is more difficult. Dropping the Ca supplement seems the logical strategy to balance these 4. Consuming lots of Ca has not proven to be a sound strategy given the higher rates of heart attacks with higher levels of supplemented Ca.

Starting to wonder if the body is better adapted to pulling nutrients out of food when food is scarce, than its ability to manage nutrients when food is consumed in over eating....... just a theory Im noodling around.

So pleased it is working for you, Ms Arielle!

I can say that going ketogenic has imoroved my teeth. Theynseem to stay cleaner just automatically.

Me too, My teeth stay much cleaner. Sometimes when I brush my teeth I wonder if I brushed well enough because not much is in the sink. TMI :lol:

baking soda is the least abrasive:

Abrasiveness Index of Common Toothpastes

:)

Not many teeth in the sink? That's good! I started using a water flosser. Amazing how much garbage gets stuck in there that brushing doesn't touch.

A good tip for preserving your gums is to hold your toothbrush with your fingertips instead of in your fist - like a flute instead of a baseball bat.

Thank you for that list. Makes me feel vindicated rather than feeling guilty ( no matter how slight) for being a "bad " patient.

I continue to track the " long in the tooth" area inside my lower molars as I can see where plague builds up on the exposed root area. I forgot to mention that the scaling of that area was a better experience: it didnt flinch the whole time as has been my usual, only twice. Overall FAR less painful.

In the last teeth cleaning sessions the lack of comment on my flinching had me concerned that perhaps dentists and hygienists have become rather ' bloody butcher" minded, no matter kind the current hygienist.

Definitely prefering my old toothbrush which is the softest. The hard "soft" brush feels like it is scratching and tearing my gums. Off to the bin with it--- for other cleaning jobs around the house.

Have been thinking about how grain based dog food causes tartar for the dog's teeth.... wonder if the dogs will let me brush with baking soda...?

Forgot to mention, taking vitamin C when I remember. Need to move the pill bottle up with the others I regularly take.

Definitely thinking of these: guava fruit has low carbs, and lots of Vit C. Just cant eta just one though, so buy irregularly; grassfed beef and meats have far m ore vit C than grain fed. Seems mother nature knew what to do: iron is best absorbed from a meat source, especially when vit C is present.

I have an orange tree full of large juicy fruit but I know if I eat any, my LC progress will go out of the window.... :o

Oh how lovely to have an orange tree!!! And yes, oranges are sweet. Sometimes I eat half a tangerine or clemintine, which are tiny, when I am being good.... otherwise, they are sooo delicious that one is NOT enough.

I dream of a dwarf lemon, but dont have a good window for it. Not ye anyway.

Have you thought about building a greenhouse?