Halting & Reversing Tooth Decay Naturally

*Let me start by saying, I am not a medical professional. This is my family’s experience, yours may be different. Please be sure to seek professional care if you have medical questions or concerns.*

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. I have only linked brands and products that I have tried and trust.

I share my story in hopes to help other parents deal with tooth decay and cavities in their littles.

Our Story:

My daughter threw a tantrum in the tub. I can’t remember why at this point. Maybe because I told her that she was done or that she couldn’t eat the soap. She’s a stubborn little girl. I was sitting right next to her and before I could stop it, she slipped and smashed her mouth on the side of the tub. I had a moment of relief when I didn’t see blood but when I wiped away the spit on her face, it was crunchy. Half of her front tooth was in my hand. There was more tooth shattered on the floor and on her chest.

I was breastfeeding at the time and her tooth was like a knife. I tried putting beeswax on the edge to soften it but it usually fell off. It was excruciating. We made an appointment to have the dentist check it out and hopefully file it down. That’s when they found the tooth decay and at least 8 cavities. We not only had a terrible experience with this dentist who said some nasty things to me but we also walked out with a $4000 out of pocket bill. They told us they would put her under full anesthesia, we weren’t allowed in and they would complete the “work” that needed to be done.

I was stunned and scared. I knew one thing, she wasn’t getting put under without me there. I went home and started researching. That’s when I found that tooth decay was something that so many parents were fighting.

We found an amazing dentist that took x-rays. She was extremely concerned when she first saw her teeth but, because of her age, said we should hold off and recheck her in 6 months. After that period, she had more x-rays done and our dentist said her decay had halted, her cavities hadn’t gotten worse. It was an amazing feeling of relief.

With our plan, my daughter’s cavities stopped bleeding, the pain went away, her broken tooth naturally became smooth and the decay faded. We were able to hold off any medical intervention until she was old enough to do it without anesthesia. I knew I needed to share our story so that others could see that decay can be slowed, stopped and in some cases healed without the use of anesthesia and other serious medical intervention.

What we did:

While researching, I found many diets but they were all generally the same. Dr. Axe’s guide to reversing cavities naturally is a great reference.

NO SUGAR – replace with honey or maple sugar VERY SPARINGLY
NO processed foods, fast foods or pre-packaged foods
Raw Organic Milk – we got ours from a local family farm.
Raw Cheese – We are lucky to have Wegman’s in NY and they supply a variety of raw cheeses.
Eliminate Phytic Acid – No grains except sprouted grains. For bread we bought Ezekiel Sprouted Bread. Every day she would have toast with Pastured Butter. No beans, soy or nuts (especially almonds). Phytic acid decreases absorption of magnesium and zinc by a HUGE percentage. It also leaches minerals from bones and teeth. See Dr. Axe’s article for more information on phytic acid.
Organic Pastured Butter – I literally fed her by the spoonful and put it on anything I could. Organic Pastured Butter is rich in fat soluable vitamins K12, A and D. Essential for teeth! To this day, she still eats it with a spoon!
Bone Broth – We made bone broth from organic beef bones. To make it – roast bones in the oven for 45 minutes at 375°. Put the bones, fat and cut up vegetables in an Instant Pot and cook for 45 minutes. I gave her bone broth in a cup to drink or made a soup. You can find ready made organic bone broth at most grocery stores.
Kefir & Yogurt – Make sure you are buying Organic NO ADDED SUGAR yogurt. We bought Trimona Bulgarian Whole Fat, Non-Strained Yogurt.
Healthy Fats – Coconut oil, fish, avocado
Vegetables – Lots and lots of vegetables!
Fruit – Minimize fruit to one time a day. Fruit is great for you but every time you eat fruit, the acid attacks your teeth. If you don’t give your teeth time in between eating fruit, your teeth are constantly under attack. I truly feel this is a main reason my daughter had so many cavities. She would snack on fruit and drink fruit shakes ALL DAY LONG.
Vitamin D3 – We used Liquid Child Life Vitamin D3.

Check out my post The Greatest Bath Toys EVER to keep your little SITTING and busy in the tub!

Cod Liver Oil Butter Blend:

This is CRUCIAL. Green Pasture Fermented Cod Liver Oil Butter Blend is what HALTED my daughter’s decay. There was an immediate difference in pain if we became lenient. Before starting this, her back molars would literally bleed. About a week after starting the blend, they stopped bleeding completely. She got about a teaspoon 2-3 times a day. I put it on the spoon and covered the spoon in yogurt or shake. Even though it was gross, it became routine and she took it like a champ everyday. You can learn more and see charts on how well this blend helps provide fat soluble vitamins to beat cavities here.

It comes in a cinnamon tingle flavored gel. This is what we used.
Green Pasture Fermented Cod Liver Oil Butter Blend – Cinnamon Tingle Gel

Or an unflavored gel.
Green Pasture Fermented Cod Liver Butter Blend – Unflavored

It also comes in capsules. The capsules are wonderful because you can’t taste it but my 2 year old would have had trouble swallowing a large pill.
Green Pasture Fermented Cod Liver Oil Butter Blend – Capsules

Remineralizing toothpaste:

No little one wants to brush their teeth with a not so awesome tasting toothpaste but it was an important part of our process.

You will need:
4 tablespoons Coconut Oil
1 tablespoon Baking Soda
20 drops Peppermint Oil
5 drop Thieves Oil
1 drop liquid Stevia
Calcium Lactate – We buy ours from Standard Process. We crush a few into powder.

We kept a small bowl of crushed Calcium Lactate in the bathroom. After each brushing, we pushed the powder into each cavity and left it.

We buy our essential oils from Young Living. Their standards are held much higher than other companies. If you’d like to become a member and get 24% off retail price when you buy click here.

One evening while playing, she bumped her cracked tooth. Her tooth abscessed and it had to be extracted. At this point, she had lasted 1 year and 3 months without needing any intervention so I was pretty disappointed. With the help of our dentist’s team they were able to extract her tooth without anesthesia. She was only 3 at the time and stayed so calm. Proud mom moment!

Around 8 months later, we had her back 2 bottom molars filled. These were the 2 that were bleeding and we didn’t want them to abscess. We did a practice day where she learned all of the tools that were going to fix her teeth and how they worked. She even got to make a filling for a stuffed animal. She did amazing during the filling process.

The brown stains on my daughter’s teeth from decay have almost completely receded. All of the other cavities look good and so far, we haven’t had any more issues with pain, cavities or otherwise.

You CAN halt and even heal tooth decay! Be diligent and stay strong!

*UPDATE* 2-3-2020
My daughter is 5 now. Her teeth are doing great! We have had no further issues or dentist appointments. She still takes her cod liver butter blend each morning on a spoon with a bit of whipped cream. Then, I give her a tiny bit more of whipped cream as a prize. Some days she is more excited than others but it has kept the decay away and I now see new white tooth where the decay once was! We did reintroduce some of the foods she was avoiding but continue to maintain a healthy, balanced diet.

UPDATE 9-1-2021

Still no issues! She actually LOVES taking her cod liver every morning now and begs for it if we forget. I have my son doing the same.