Early childhood caries has risen to the top of the list of childhood diseases with over 25 percent of children affected. Dentists will attribute poor oral hygiene, nighttime nursing and starchy foods as the cause. Unfortunately, many of the affected children do brush their teeth well, eat a reasonable diet, and not all of them nurse at night, so there has to be some other underlying cause.

I have a child with early childhood caries. Our saga began when we noticed one of her front teeth was rapidly decaying before she turned two. A visit to the family dentist found six of her upper teeth were essentially dissolving. The pediatric dentist who saw her next recommended surgery under anesthesia where the affected teeth would be cleaned out and fitted with metal crowns. My husband and I opted to take a wait and see approach and explore the possibility of our daughter’s caries being nutritionally related. A year later, we have managed to arrest her caries through improving her diet, and it is this information I want to share with you.

The most important dietary change is to eliminate all refined flour and sugar. While most of us look at white flour as a non-nutrient, for a child suffering from dental caries, white flour is downright toxic. As a parent, you can be doing everything else right, but continued exposure to white flour can negate all other efforts. You can’t just switch over to whole wheat products, either, as whole wheat often means mostly white flour with a bit of whole wheat flour thrown in for good measure. You have to make your baked goods from scratch and the safest ones are those made from freshly ground sprouted wheat berries. Additionally, the flour should be presoaked in a solution containing yogurt or whey to improve the digestibility. My daughter does not get any baked goods unless I have made them myself.

Eliminating sugar may seem obvious. White sugar is a no-no, but so are the various natural unrefined sweeteners out there, including Rapadura, Sucanat, date sugar, honey, and stevia. Foods high in natural sugars should be limited, and possibly avoided altogether at first, especially if your child is experiencing tooth pain.

You should implement a steady supplementation program using high vitamin butter oil and fermented cod liver oil, both available at www.greenpasture.org and www.radiantlifecatalog.com. The two supplements should be given together two to three times a day with food. The food you provide your child should be rich in fat and protein. Foods that will fight dental decay include liver and bone marrow and eggs from pastured animals, raw milk, cream and butter from pastured cows, wild-caught salmon, whole clams and mussels, whole crabs, and steak. Blended soups based with bone broth are excellent because you can include lots of fresh vegetables and you can sneak in a generous amount of liver. Fermented vegetable preparations like sauerkraut and beet kvass are also highly nutritious if your child will take them.

The main principle in treating dental caries through nutrition is to follow the principles of the Weston Price Foundation, which call for foods in their whole, natural state, and to avoid processed foods that are devoid of nutrients.

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