The Paleo Tooth Fairy

I went to the dentist this morning and lo and behold... I had another cavity in the making. That makes two itty bitty cavities since I moved to Sweden. Before that I had NONE for a decade. Zero.

The interesting thing is that the tiny cavities coincide with close to no tartar whatsoever, even the dentist was impressed. And this is the chick that has had tartar chiseled out of her bottom front teeth for as long as she can remember.

The dentist mentioned that a more aciditic environment in the mouth will keep tartar to a minumum and possibly promote cavities. A more alkaline environment will do the opposite.

Duh. What is the most acidic thing that I have ingested EVERY SINGLE DAY, WITHOUT FAIL for the last two years? I hate to say it, but it is spelled sauerkraut.

'tis a sad day for me and my buddy, the 8 liter sauerkraut jar

Given how I approach things - with gusto, all in, more is better, can't get enough - you can perhaps imagine how I eat sauerkraut. By the bucketload... So I will try to give my poor teeth a rest and not eat 5 tablespoonfuls every meal (I know, I know). Not to mention the fermented drinks for breakfast. Sigh.

On top of that, there are always the usual suspects to consider:

• Eating too many times a day. I usually eat 3-4 times a day, which is great. But that's not counting the piece of dark chocolate in the evening (or three), or the carrot stick between meals should be considered another meal (dang!). I shall have to be a bit stricter about eating outside of mealtimes, to avoid any excess acid on the pearly whites. 

• Laying off excess sugar. I eat sugar once in a while. As mentioned, usually in the form of dark chocolate. A bit of honey on occasion. The random "chokladbiskvi" from Skånskan (to die for). All in all, not that much, given that I hardly eat fruit and also avoid the starchy stuff such as bread, pasta, potatoes, pizza, you know the drill. However, when the sugars are ingested separately from food, however natural they may be, they do present an additional load on your teeth as well as your body. Dessert on occasion - ok. Random piece of fruit/ chocolate/ paleo ball between meals - unnecessary. 

• Cleaning the spaces between my teeth. I already floss like a madwoman (hello excess again), but perhaps adding on an extra wide toothpick a few times a day will help further. The dentist suggested using little weird plastic thingies to use between my teeth, but there is only so much plastic allowed in my mouth nowadays. 

Anyhow, I do like a challenge, so here's to two healed cavities by December 2016! Or premature dentures...