Wheatgrass and Gum Disease

I am a raw food believer and already use wheatgrass juice in my raw food smoothies to improve my overall health. However, I never thought that wheatgrass also could help with my gum disease.

For years I had gingivitis but nobody told me or educated me. Then I made the mistake not to take care of my health as I was working long hours and deep in the night and morning time without brushing my teeth in and between. I didn't realize it wasn't enough to brush my teeth in the morning and evening when evening means in the early morning hours. Did you know that tartar changes to plaque that can't be easily removed after 8 hours? Now I know too. But back to my current situation: I developed a periodontal disease now and have to take special care of my gums and teeth to decrease the illness.

Because I am in such a deep desperation now I paid more attention to the food I am eating and the meaning for my body.

I found out that wheatgrass juice (I already drank it in my green smoothies) itself helps a lot to decrease gum infections.

How Wheatgrass Juice Helps To Improve Our Oral Health:


Wheatgrass has the ability to destroy harmful germs and neutralizes bacteria. As a natural immune booster, wheatgrass juice is perfect to use as a natural mouth wash in the morning and night time. This is a mouth wash that is healthy to swallow afterward too.

I started it few days ago and it calms down my infected gums (they don't seem so swollen anymore) and give them a more pink look (not so red like usual).

How A Raw Food Diet Can Help To Decrease Your Gum Inflammation

How sprouts can help to decrease your gum inflammation? Right, it sounds unbelievable.

If you are like me then you have your gum disease or gum infection since a long time, perhaps since you are a teenager.

An anti-inflammatory diet such as a raw food diet includes in general a lot of fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds, sprouts, nuts and super foods.


However, especially fresh sprouts, eaten fresh or as part of a green juice (juiced with cucumber, green apples, and celery)  especially helps to decrease gum inflammation.

Since my gum infection increased so much and now developed the gum disease periodontitis, I am very concerned about my overall health. Having periodontitis means that my immune system is weak and could affect my heart also.

Sprouts are now part of all my lunch and dinner meals, and I can already see and feel the improvement. I also drink green juice with juiced mung sprouts and quinoa sprouts in the morning.

Tooth And Gums Paste And Tooth And Gums Tonic

Before I found my holistic dentist I never heard about a tooth and gums paste before, not speaking about a tooth and gums tonic.

I love raw food and visit the health food store or Whole Foods frequently but never really saw a paste for tooth AND gums.


For sure, I am blessed having a dentist who educates me and helps to improve my gums. She recommended a brand that I am using at the moment but I am sure there are several other good products on the market.

But I know that using a tooth AND gums paste is perfect when you have a gum infection.

The brand my dentist recommended is "Dental Herb Company". I bought the paste and also the tooth & gums tonic. The consistence of the paste is different from other natural tooth pastes I know. Made with green tea extract, pure essential oils of peppermint, red thyme, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus globulus, lavender, and other ingredients, this natural tooth paste has no sodium lauryl sulfate.

I use it now since a week and it feels that the tooth paste doesn't only clean my teeth but also my gum line where the plaque builds up the most and on my roots. With my tongue I can feel that there is no tartar anymore.

After brushing my teeth I use the tooth and gums tonic. The herbs in the tonic is perfect for my oral health. The tonic contains deionized water, vegetable glycerin, extracts of echinacea, gotu kola,  pure essential oils of pepermint, red thyme, eucalyptus globulus and lavender, and plant saponins.

Tip 1: Shake the bottle good before you use it the first time if you want to take full advantage of the benefits of the tonic and that the ingredients come together. I forgot it and was surprised the second time as I did it by accident and had a totally another result.
Tip 2: Rinse for 30 seconds. It will burn a little for 1 - 2 seconds but this is a sign that it works!

This works great!!!

Gum Disease Treatment

Moving from Miami to a small town on the East Coast of Florida, it again took me six months to visit a dentist. In Germany I had dental insurance (everybody who is employed in Germany is fully covered him or herself and also their families through the health insurance system that includes dental insurance. You pay a small amount for a regular check-up or dental cleaning when you go to the dentist.)

Still without dental insurance in the USA I had to go to the cheapest dentist who only gave me a "regular" dental cleaning what is like no dental cleaning at all.

As I could finally afford a good dentist after a year, I needed another deep dental cleaning. But this time, I met a wonderful dental hygienist who spoiled me with positive attention and really caring about my teeth and gums.

It is funny that many dentists mainly see your teeth. They always want to put crowns, caps or fillings in your mouth but don't really care about swollen and bleeding gums.

My dental hygienist gave me after this deep dental cleaning the medial oral care rinse Gel-Kam as a gum disease treatment (you need a prescription). I had to take it for several weeks but it really helped healing my gums a lot. This oral care rinse is really great if you need a gum disease treatment to

• prevent decay
• minimize plaque on our teeth
• take care of exposed roots
• heal Gingivitis
• help with tooth sensitivity

It worked very well and improved my swollen and infected gums. I could see that the gums changed colors from dark red to light pink and the fine red line in the gums between the teeth (a signal that they are infected) totally disappeared. The plaque had fewer chances to build up.

For two years, I went to her every three months for a regular dental cleaning. It wasn't cheap but it helped to hold my developed Gingivitis in place. My gums were less infected and swollen and the bleeding improved too. It was a huge improvement to my situation before.

So much I liked the dental hygienist, whenever the annual x-rays and dental check came up the dentist always wanted to sell me crowns and didn't listen to my gum concerns at all. He did it so aggressive that I didn't want to go back to my hygienist after the last cleaning in December 2009.

And with this decision, my painful odyssey begun. It was a huge mistake to stop the dental cleaning. Now I know that everybody who has Gingivitis needs a dental cleaning every three months or less. I didn't realize this before.

Learning through experience can be very eye-opening!

Gingivitis

After having swollen and infected gums for so many years, my gums developed gingivitis. It was so painful and sad looking in the mirror and seeing my infected, swollen and bleeding gums.


As I still lived in Germany, I went to my dentist every 6 months for a dental cleaning. He always spoke about my Amalgam fillings, and that I would have to remove them soon but never really paid attention to my gums. He said it would go away when I would clean my teeth better.

I moved from Germany to the USA in April 2005. With no dental insurance, I wanted to wait and see how long I could make it without dental cleaning. This was my first big mistake. But I didn't learn from it. Read more in my future postings.

As I visited a local dentist in Miami in May 2006, he told me that I needed a deep dental cleaning. He never spoke about that I have Gingivitis, so I had no clue what happened and why I needed a deep cleaning. I knew that my gums were infected but not why. I asked him and his answer was again that I didn't brush my teeth properly. I got so tired of this answer. Seeing the result of cleaning my teeth and gums wrong but not really knowing what was the reason for it made me crazy.

I went to two deep dental cleaning treatments, and he charged me a huge amount of money but without educating me how I could take care of the Gingivitis (now I know what it was) in the future.


Underestimating what it meant I brushed and flossed my teeth how I was used to and how the dentist showed me but the swollen and bleeding gums still didn't improve.

I got used to it and thought I could live with it.

Gum Infection

Over the years, my gums became more and more infected. Several teeth started bleeding. The gums got swollen and red. There was never a time the infection went  totally away.

I guess it is also in my family. My parents and my middle sister have the same problems. The last twenty years, I tried everything what is available on the "traditional" dental hygiene market, from special formed tooth brushes and dental floss over water picker to a gum tip that massages your gums.

For a long time, I didn't want to show my teeth when pictures were taken. I felt embarrassed about my appearance, and that I didn't take care of my teeth as I was a child.

Changing the dental hygiene behavior was easy for me, but it doesn't change the damage that already was done.

If I would know as a child what I know now I never ever would not be brushing or cleaning my teeth. But, it is too late for that now.