# Dental Health

Category: Conditions

Also known as: tooth decay, cavities, dental caries

Dental health is fundamentally a systemic, energetic phenomenon, not a localized bacterial infection. Ray Peat argued that the quality of the saliva, regulated mainly by thyroid hormone, is the primary factor governing what happens to the teeth on the outside, while stress…

11 passages · 1 author · 2009–2025 · Most-cited: [Ray Peat](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/voices/ray-peat/index.md)

Canonical page: https://bioenergeticoracle.com/concepts/dental-health

## Synthesis

**Dental health** is fundamentally a systemic, energetic phenomenon, not a localized bacterial infection. Ray Peat argued that the **quality of the saliva**, regulated mainly by thyroid hormone, is the primary factor governing what happens to the teeth on the outside, while stress hormones determine the tooth's internal integrity. [Source 1, 5, 11] The conventional acid theory of decay, which blames bacteria producing acid, has "tremendous weakness" because it neglects the chemical and immunological functions of saliva and the systemic mobilization of minerals. [Source 1, 6] Peat observed that during periods when cavity rates decreased, the consumption of sugar, candy, and soft drinks actually increased, a paradox mainstream dentistry could not explain. [Source 6]

The internal resistance of a tooth to decay is an active, energy-dependent process. The dentine is the part that can regenerate, constantly renewing the cytoplasm in its channels to close off the advance of a cavity, provided a stable hormonal balance of **vitamin D** and calcium exists. [Source 1, 11] Stress, however, weakens teeth from the inside by mobilizing calcium from the dentine, often creating spots of discoloration that develop into cavities. [Source 11] This process is hormonally mediated: animal studies showed that treating rats with **estrogen** increased their incidence of tooth decay, while supplementing them with **thyroid hormone** decreased it. [Source 3, 6] Peat identified *serotonin* as a major calcium disruptor in bones and teeth, and noted that intestinal inflammation and endotoxin are often behind recurrent tooth infections, recommending a daily raw carrot to suppress bacterial overgrowth. [Source 5, 8, 9]

Once decay has penetrated the enamel and entered the dentine, Peat stated that remineralizing a full cavity from the inside is essentially impossible, though the tooth can internally close off the progress of the decay. [Source 1] For an obvious cavity, he recommended it be cleaned out and filled, favoring *composite fillings* over amalgam and considering Sorel cements (oxy chloride) ideal, though unpopular. [Source 5] For wisdom teeth or deciduous teeth in children, he strongly advocated for conservative management using a *zinc oxide and eugenol* temporary filling, which is antiseptic, mildly anesthetic, and easy to apply without aggressive drilling or X-rays. [Source 5, 9, 10] He considered dentists too aggressive in treating baby teeth, emphasizing that improving the child's digestion and hormones as permanent teeth develop is the crucial intervention. [Source 9]

Peat was unequivocally opposed to dental X-rays, stating that safer technologies like **ultrasound** have existed for years to image cavities but remain unused due to institutional investment in existing X-ray machines. [Source 2] He extended this caution to root canals and the "cavitation" diagnoses promoted by some biological dentists, viewing the latter as an extension of the old "focal infection" scam that opens new profit opportunities while causing prolonged pain and slow bone healing. [Source 7] A personal experience with a low-milk diet causing his teeth to become sensitive and crumble led him to recognize the critical importance of a generous intake of **calcium** and vitamin D, with milk being superior to supplements because its sugars, fats, and balanced minerals assist proper assimilation. [Source 4]

## People also ask

### How does thyroid function affect tooth decay?

Peat argued that thyroid hormone regulates saliva quality, which is the primary factor governing what happens to the outside of teeth, and animal studies showed that supplementing with thyroid hormone decreased the incidence of decay.

### Why did Peat recommend a raw carrot for dental infections?

Peat identified intestinal inflammation and endotoxin as frequent causes of recurrent tooth infections, and he recommended a daily raw carrot to suppress bacterial overgrowth in the gut.

### What did Peat suggest for treating a cavity in a child's baby tooth?

He advocated for conservative management using a zinc oxide and eugenol temporary filling, which is antiseptic and easy to apply, while emphasizing that improving the child's digestion and hormones is the crucial intervention.

## Related concepts

- [Adrenaline](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/adrenaline/index.md)
- [Albumin](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/albumin/index.md)
- [Anemia](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/anemia/index.md)
- [Arachidonic Acid](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/arachidonic-acid/index.md)
- [Caffeine](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/caffeine/index.md)
- [Calcium-to-Phosphorus Ratio](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/calcium-to-phosphorus-ratio/index.md)

## Cited passages

Passage numbers match the `[Source N]` markers in the synthesis above.

### Source 1 — #58: Bioenergetic Nutrition Continued  |  Authoritarianism  |  Intention and Learning with Ray Peat, PhD

Ray Peat · Interview · May 30, 2021

> ## Dental Health
>
> **Danny Roddy:** Is there a way to remineralize teeth and heal cavities?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Basically no. If the enamel is just slightly eroded and the protein framework is still there, yeah, it can be very nicely remineralized. But once the decay has gone through the thin layer of enamel and entered the dentine, the tooth from the inside can close off the progress. If you have a very stable hormonal vitamin D calcium balance, the tooth from the inside is constantly renewing the cytoplasm in the dentine channels and will close off, create resistance to the advancing cavity. But I've never heard of being able to fill a cavity from the inside.
>
> **Georgi Dinkov:** Have you seen that study published in 2018? They showed that applying aspirin topically to the tooth, despite being acidic, actually led to tooth regeneration.
>
> **Ray Peat:** I think the acid theory of tooth decay has tremendous weakness. The idea that bacteria just make an acid... I think it's much more complicated than that, involving antibodies and subtler handling of the minerals. Thyroid is the main regulator of the health of your saliva, and the quality of your saliva really is in charge of what happens to your teeth on the outside.

### Source 2 — Ionizing Radiation in Context 1 — Politics & Science, 2009

Ray Peat · Interview · 2009

> **Jon Barkhausen:** Well, it sounds like x-rays are probably not a good idea, especially for bone scans. ​
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yes. And ultrasound technology has existed for many years, [enabling] dentists to see cavities and have nice pictures of the insides of teeth, without any x-rays at all. ​
>
> **Jon Barkhausen:** I've looked into that without much luck of finding anybody (at least in this country) who's doing that. ​
>
> **Ray Peat:** No. It's just the technology that no one wants to use because they have x-rays and believe they're safe. ​
>
> **Jon Barkhausen:** Newsweek came out with an article not too long ago about CAT scans. And actually was quite cautionary about people having too many of them. How do CAT scans fit into the scale of exposure? ​
>
> **Ray Peat:** Well, one is too many. ​
>
> **Jon Barkhausen:** One CAT scan is too many? ​
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yes. ​
>
> **Jon Barkhausen:** Why is that? ​
>
> **Ray Peat:** It's a lot of radiation. It's the equivalent of many, many chest x-rays. It's making an x-ray picture from many different angles, so that you can look at it in the computer and see many different perspectives. ​

### Source 3 — Osteoporosis, aging, tissue renewal, and product science

Ray Peat · Article · 2012 · https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/osteoporosis-aging.shtml

> . . . the nature of science itself changed around the middle of the last century, becoming product and disease oriented, so that now relatively few people are continuing to study bones objectively.
>
> Animal studies show that estrogen stunts growth, including bone growth. The high estrogen levels in girls' teen years and early twenties accounts for the fact that women's bones are lighter than men's. In rat studies, treatment with estrogen was found to enlarge the space between the jawbone and the teeth, which is a factor in periodontal disease (Elzay, 1964). Teeth are very similar to bones, so it's interesting that treating male or female rats with estrogen increases their incidence of tooth decay, and removing their gonads was found to decrease the incidence (Muhler and Shafer, 1952). Supplementing them with thyroid hormone decreased the incidence of cavities in both males and females (Bixler, et al., 1957).
>
> One of the "estrogen receptors" appears to actively contribute to bone loss (Windahl, et al., 1999, 2001). Studies in dogs following the removal of their ovaries found that there was an increase of bone remodeling and bone formation rate in the first month, followed by a few months of slowed bone formation, but that by 10 months after the surgery the bones had returned to their normal remodeling rate, and that "at no time was a significant reduction in bone volume detected" (Boyce, et al., 1990). With the removal of the ovaries, the production of progesterone as well as estrogen is affected, but the adrenal glands and other tissues can produce those hormones.
>
> Until the influence of the estrogen industry overwhelmed it, ordinary science was studying bone development in comprehensive ways, understanding its biological roles and the influences of the environment on it. But the nature of science itself changed around the middle of the last century, becoming product and disease oriented, so that now relatively few people are continuing to study bones objectively.
>
> The outstanding physical-chemical property of bone is that it is a reservoir-buffer of carbon dioxide, able to bind huge amounts of the gas into its structure.

### Source 4 — One Radio Network: Ray Peat with Patrick Timpone — September 21, 2021

Ray Peat · Interview · Sep 21, 2021

> **Patrick Timpone:** Fascinating. So all these health food stores selling cod liver oil or fish oil and vitamin C, probably not the best choice. We have to know what we're doing here. Yeah. That's why we have guys like you on, gentlemen like you on to help us because, man, it's the landmines out there with all the things we've been taught over the years, even in the natural food business. Right, Doc? I mean, all the health food stores selling all these things?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Oh, yeah, the propaganda
>
> **Patrick Timpone:** is so powerful. It's big. A couple more, then we'll let you go. Oh, here is one. John, he's in Los Angeles. 50-year-old man, what can I eat or take to improve my teeth health? They're not in good shape. Well, teeth, tooth.
>
> **Ray Peat:** The teeth?
>
> **Patrick Timpone:** Yeah, teeth.
>
> **Ray Peat:** When I was in Mexico City, I went several months out. I didn't wake up early enough to get to the supermarket to get some good-tasting milk. And so I went on a low-milk, almost milk-free diet for several months. And all of my teeth became very sensitive to the cold or any stimulation. And then one of them started crumbling. not decay, but just weakness and pieces of it breaking off. And after I started reading about calcium metabolism, I found a huge sandbox calcium supplement. I took just one or two of those, about a thousand milligrams of calcium each. And Within hours, the sensitivity of my teeth had gone back to normal. Just an amazing turning off of the total dental pain. So that woke me up to the importance of regular calcium, a generous intake of calcium and vitamin D.

### Source 5 — Teeth & Gums

Ray Peat · Email · 2015

> # Teeth & Gums
>
> [Bleeding gums] It's usually a sign of stress, often from over-growth of bacteria in the upper intestine. A daily raw carrot, shredded with a little vinegar and olive oil, can suppress bacteria.
>
> Intestinal inflammation is often behind recurrent tooth infections, and a daily raw carrot can make a big difference (along with avoiding legumes, undercooked starches and raw or undercooked vegetables).
>
> I use baking soda, and I rinse my mouth after having sugar, orange juice, etc. The quality of the saliva, regulated mainly by the thyroid hormone, is the main factor in dental health. My newsletter on osteoporosis mentioned some of the studies on thyroid, estrogen, and tooth decay.
>
> [Effective stimulation?] Chewing is the best stimulation.
>
> [Removing wisdom tooth] If it's decayed or inflamed, removing a wisdom tooth might be protective.
>
> [What is the best course of action for a decayed tooth?] I think any obvious cavity should be cleaned out and filled. Extractions are usually done for economic reasons, when a good repair would require a lot of work. When a biting surface isn’t involved, a zinc oxide eugenol filling (temporary) is often good for a few years. I think composite fillings are better than amalgam, and the Sorel cements (oxy chloride) are ideal filling materials, though they aren’t popular with dentists.
>
> [Dental x-rays] Fun quotes

### Source 6 — Ray Peat Interview on Iron Toxicity, Estrogen, PUFA, Thyroid, and Stress Hormones

Ray Peat · Interview · Sep 15, 2025 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UmFIaFm2Mc

> **Ray Peat:** And they saw that during the time that cavities have decreased radically, sugar, candy, and soft drink consumption had actually increased. And they couldn't account for why the teeth were healthier while the basic diet hadn't changed so much, but had increased in the supposedly cavity causing snack foods and in my sugar article I mention some of the old studies in which they modified the thyroid or estrogen and found that increased estrogen increased the dental decay increased thyroid reduced the dental decay and One whole line of dental research has shown that stress will very quickly cause an outbreak of cavities and mainline dentistry just thinks in terms of germ growth in the mouth and completely neglects the chemical and immunological function of the saliva. I think the saliva is the mediator of stress. Interesting.
>
> **Josh Rubin:** Now, kind of going on to a different topic, this question I think is in regard to, I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, I'm not too familiar with it, the work of Dr. Ron Vignery, PhD. And they want to know that, you know, he talks about fasting for at least periods of protein restriction to upregulate the process of autophagy or the self-eating of old and damaged proteins, which is supposed to help starve off diseases, including cancer. What's your thoughts on that?

### Source 7 — Ray Peat Email Advice Depository — Post 908

Ray Peat · Email · Dec 8, 2022

> **Question:** Thanks Dr. Peat. I really really minimize my dental x-rays to the greatest degree possible and take aspirin, progesterone, methylene blue and thyroid right before and right after any x-ray and I carry my portable 250 watt red light in the brooder lamp with me to the dentist and apply it directly after for up to an hour immediately. Unfortunately, almost all dentists, even the biological dentists, cannot seem to work without them. Per the images, i have both an infected root canal, cavitations, and a crown that is improper. It seems the only solution is to extract the root canaled tooth and clean out the cavitations. I know that you think it best not to disturb root canaled teeth but I have been having chronic issues above where it was done for five years now and issues in my both sides of my face for even longer that seem to suggest infection. On a positive legal note, we are gaining steam with the criminal justice initiative I sent you and will have massive filings in counties all over Colorado presently per connections with large citizen groups here. I am pursuing many opportunities at present, one of which is to step up and file a massive lawsuit in Colorado'; although I am also pursuing opportunities in Texas. I will go wherever I am most needed and the criminal initiative may become a full-time job as well. Also, America's Frontline Doctors has filed a lawsuit pertaining to Covid-recovered plaintiffs. More is happening every day and i truly feel we will have a revolution soon. I heard back from Reiner Fuellmich and he will discuss our criminal initiative and i am trying to arrange to appear on one of his sessions. I continue to work with lawyers all over the country on the civil rights violations with university and employment mandates etc. More to unfold..... Any thoughts on chlorine dioxide? Seems to me the new rage.
>
> **Ray Peat:** I’m really glad to hear about the acceleration of the legal actions. When I hear about “biological dentists” and their cavitations, I think of the “Lyme disease doctors.” I think it’s an extension of the old “focal infection” scam, opening new profit opportunities. If some of the jaw bone is removed, the healing is very slow, with prolonged more intense pain. The older a person is, the slower and less certain the bone regeneration is. [references]

### Source 8 — Ask the Herb Doctor: Mitochondria, GABA, Herbs, and More

Ray Peat · Interview · Apr 15, 2016 · http://l-i-g-h-t.com/files/herb-doctors-mitochondria-gaba-and-more.mp4

> ## Caller: Tooth Decay
>
> **Andrew Murray:** We have a caller on the air. Where are you from?
>
> **Caller:** San Francisco, California. Hi, Dr. Peat. I wanted to know what causes tooth decay and how do you reverse it?
>
> **Ray Peat:** I think it's stress-related. There is one type of cavity that starts with a white area rather than the usual dark area. It comes on very fast with the mobilization of calcium from the dentin under the influence of stress. Another kind is related to stress starting from the outside with the mobilization of calcium because of imbalances and pro-inflammatory factors in the saliva. The basic thing is to keep your energy up and stress low so that you don't have either harmful saliva or an internal anti-calcium system. Vitamin D and Vitamin K are very important for keeping calcium in the hard tissue. Serotonin has been found to be a major calcium disruptor in the bones and teeth as well. It's really a matter of your total systemic health more than just what happens in your mouth.
>
> **Caller:** Thank you very much.

### Source 9 — Ray Peat Email Advice Depository — Post 289

Ray Peat · Email · Oct 11, 2016

> **Question:** [6 year old child with autism] Her teeth have 12 cavities which I find alarming at her age and just shows the state of her digestive system.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Her taste for starches and sweet pastry is probably because she isn’t able to store glycogen efficiently, with stress hormones causing her to metabolize glucose quickly and wastefully. In hypothyroidism, chronically high free fatty acids interfere with the production of energy needed to stop the stress that keeps the fatty acids high. The starches are probably contributing to inflammation and the production of serotonin. Small doses of an antibiotic such as tetracycline or erythromycin can sometimes lower intestinal serotonin production, but it’s best to find an antiseptic food that can be used daily—well cooked mushrooms and bamboo sprouts are alternatives to raw carrot. Finding alternative foods for the starches might be possible—cakes can be made with powdered milk instead of flour, with eggs; salty meats (puffed pork rinds, or bacon fried in coconut oil, for example, can be used to make finely shredded carrots tasty); chewy gelatin with various flavors; and things like cream-puffs or yorkshire pudding, that minimize the use of flour, might help to lower her serotonin. I don’t think anesthesia should be combined with cyproheptadine, but I think dentists are too aggressive in treating deciduous teeth; the important thing is to improve her digestion and hormones as her permanent teeth are developing. The so-called temporary fillings, made of zinc oxide and eugenol, are very easy to put in, and are antiseptic and mildly anesthetic topically. (I had them in wisdom teeth, and they lasted for years.) X-rays, anesthesia, and drilling into invisible cavities have their place in especially problematic adult teeth, but seem inappropriate for teeth that will soon be gone.

### Source 10 — Ask the Herb Doctor - February 2022

Ray Peat · Interview · Feb 17, 2022

> ## Hormonal Pathways and Estrogen Detoxification
>
> **Caller (Queens, New York):** I think I was asked like, what if—well, I currently have a wisdom tooth that has a really big cavity in it.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Dentists just don't like to fill cavities in wisdom teeth. It's so easy to extract them. But if you have, if you can control the pain by scraping out the decayed material and just sticking in a temporary so-called filling. For example, zinc and eugenol makes a plastic that hardens and is very easy to handle and reduces pain and stops infection. So your wisdom tooth probably isn't doing any biting work and a temporary filling probably would take care of it.
>
> **Caller:** How do you clean it out?
>
> **Ray Peat:** A dental tool to break off any pulpy brown material. Scrape it until it's hard. A drill can be used, but just a steel probe just to scrape the tooth. In the case of doing a wisdom tooth that you aren't going to be using for chewing, then you can put the eugenol zinc filling in to control the pain and infection.
>
> **Andrew Murray:** Out of interest, we found a very good holistic dentist in Oregon who we've been seeing for a while now who doesn't use injections. I've had a lot of dental work. He doesn't use injections to numb anything before he does a cavity. I've had two dental cavities done with him without injection. I'm amazed that all these years I've been subjected to probably brutal dentistry. So I think I need to wrap up the show. I encourage you to find a good holistic or naturopathic dentist because they will take you on board as a patient and deal respectfully and kindly with you and not in a brutal, mechanistic way. So I'd encourage you to find a naturopathic dentist in New York. Just an aside there that we found a very good one in Oregon. Dr. Tanner is his name and he's in Medford, Oregon. If any of you are listening and you're in the Medford area, Dr. Tanner is an excellent guy.
>
> **Andrew Murray:** Maybe he'd like to be an underwriter on KMUD.

### Source 11 — Ray Peat Email Advice Depository — Post 148

Ray Peat · Email · Aug 27, 2014

> **Question:** [questions about dental health]
>
> **Ray Peat:** Stress weakens teeth from the inside, drawing mineral from the dentine; the dentine is the part that can regenerate, not the enamel. Thyroid function is the most important thing for limiting stress.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Stress typically causes calcium to be removed from the small channels in the dentine, and it tends to be unequal, resulting in spots of discoloration in some teeth, that can develop into cavities. Thyroid is the most important antistress hormone as well as influencing the saliva and immunity.
>
> **Question:** And a funny one:
>
> **Question:** Is there ever a time that one would want to decrease the metabolic rate? For instance, if they have some nutrient deficiencies or infections? Thanks!
>
> **Ray Peat:** When marooned without food, waiting for rescue.

_Generated 2026-07-20 from the Bioenergetic Oracle corpus._