:) My "Who knew?" was a tad sarcastic. Critics of Weston Price dismiss him out hand because he was a *dentist* and what could a dentist possibly know about health and nutrition? When he did his surveys in the 1930's, he used dental health as the primary indicator of overall health. I believe he was one of the first to propose a dental bacteria-heart health connection which was/is widely dismissed as quackery or simply ignored.
Oh, OK, i get it now.
my father once worked with a man who suffered many health problems including arthritis and walked hunched over. After he had his rotten teeth pulled, he straightened up and became very healthy.
What I've never figured out is why I had terrible teeth as a young kid, and then hit puberty and have had only one small cavity since then. Most of the cavities were in my permanent teeth, but there were some in my baby teeth, too. I've always brushed my teeth twice a day with either Colgate or Crest. I skipped going to the dentist for five years after I got out of college, and when I finally went (terrified of what the dentist would find) the dentist couldn't believe I hadn't been in for five years. I didn't have a cavity or anything. My teeth LOOK like I floss, but I don't.
So why the change in my teeth? My health wasn't bad as a child, and it didn't improve once I hit puberty and my teeth improved, either. The only explanation I've ever gotten was from one dentist who said that the PH of your mouth sometimes changes around puberty, and it makes it less susceptible to the bacteria that cause plaque.
It's just confusing. If dental health is part of overall health, why did my teeth change but not my overall health? Plus, I'd like to know if this study controlled for a lot of socio-economic factors.