10. MAGNESIUM FOR STRONG TEETH
When you ask the dentist how you can help to prevent cavities,
chances are he gives you a new toothbrush or special toothpicks,
and warns you to brush after every meal, and to avoid too many
sweets. If he is like most other dentists, he may recommend
plenty of milk so that you get enough calcium, long known for its
supposed tooth-hardening properties.
Undoubtedly, your dentist is doing what he can to help you
take preventive measures, at least to the best of his knowledge.
He is aware that bacteria from unremoved food particles and sugar
by-products produce lactic acid, which dissolves calcium in the
protective enamel layer. He also knows the pain involved when
decay spreads to the sensitive pulp tissue. Yet he ignores the
fact that milk is recognized to be a greater producer of lactic
acid than any other known food.
Indeed, the "best of his knowledge" may not be enough. One
thing he probably does not know is that a number of studies have
now established that it is magnesium, not calcium, that forms the
kind of hard enamel that resists decay. And no matter how much
calcium you take, without magnesium only soft enamel can be
formed. If too soft the enamel will lack sufficient resistance to
the acids of decay.
For years it was believed that high intakes of calcium and
phosphorus inhibited decay by strengthening the enamel. Recent
evidence, however, indicates that an increase in these two
elements is useless unless we increase our magnesium intake at
the same time It has even been observed that dental structures
beneath the surface can dissolve when additional amounts of
calcium and phosphorus diffuse through the enamel at different
rates. Thus milk, poor in magnesium,
but high in the other two elements, not only interferes with
magnesium metabolism, but also antagonizes the mineral
responsible for decay prevention.
An article in Nature
(April 29, 1961) reports that when 200 patients given an alkaline
phosphate for three years showed a significant reduction in dental caries, scientists at the
University of Otago in New Zealand
discovered that magnesium was the beneficial factor. The report
concluded that "an important role can possibly be assigned to
magnesium [phosphate] in the stabilization of chemical, physical
and electrokinetic states of the surface enamel calcium."
An earlier paper presented to the orthopedic section of the
annual Texas Medical Association
meeting in Dallas (May 6, 1952) tells a most encouraging story
about magnesium. Lewis B. Barnett, a well-known orthopedic (bone) surgeon,
noticed that people in Deaf Smith County, Texas, had much lower
incidences of tooth decay and faster healing of broken bones than
residents elsewhere. In his paper, the doctor offers the
explanation that "water and foods have a very high magnesium and
iodine content and recently we have proven that all of the trace
minerals known to be essential are present in the water and foods
grown in that area."
Dr. Barnett found that the magnesium bone content of a Deaf
Smith County resident was often five times as high as in a Dallas
County resident. Plenty of protein and vitamin C were also
included in the diets of Deaf Smith County people.
A strong piece of evidence comes from a publication called
The Announcer, issued monthly by the College of
Agriculture, University of
Missouri. It was published in the August, 1958, issue, and it
would be best that we quote the whole item, as follows:
Mineral Studies May Mean Stronger Teeth, Healthier
Bodies
"Recent work done on this research project points up the
importance of magnesium in bone and tooth development and for
the prevention of mineral deposits in the soft tissues of the
body.
"The observations were made on guinea pigs but they have
important implications for man. This is particularly true when
related to dental caries in children and calcified joints in
older people.
"Guinea pigs have a higher requirement for magnesium than
many animals but there are wide variations in the nutritional
requirements of all animals including man. Consequently, one
individual may suffer from lack of magnesium although his diet
is entirely adequate for the average person.
"When guinea pigs are fed a diet deficient in magnesium they
grow slowly and, if they survive for a few months, they develop
deposits of calcium phosphate in such organs as the kidneys,
muscles, liver, stomach, and heart.
"At the same time, teeth fail to calcify normally. The
incisors frequently become discolored, eroded, and finally
break off at the gum line.
"A high calcium level in the diet increases the magnesium
requirement of guinea pigs just as has been observed by others
who have studied the magnesium requirement of the rat. The most
significant contribution of the Missouri work to the science of
nutrition, however, is the observation that a high phosphorus
level in the diet aggravates the symptoms of a magnesium
deficiency to as great, if not greater, extent than does
calcium.
"This effect has been observed in the rat as well as in the
guinea pig. The magnesium requirement of the latter was
increased as much as four- to five-fold when high levels of
phosphorus were present.
"The effect of high dietary phosphorus on the magnesium
requirement has important implications in animal nutrition as
well as in man. The horse, although no longer important in
agriculture in this country, is particularly subject to bony
overgrowths and abnormal calcification.
"This is particularly true when the ration is high in
concentrates which are rich in phosphorus and low in
high-quality forage. In this country, man tends to consume a
high phosphorus diet and may exclude leafy vegetables, such as
spinach and kale, which are rich in magnesium."
The most significant part of this article is the statement
that a high calcium level in the diet increases the magnesium
requirement, and this not only with guinea pigs, but "has been
observed by others who have studied the magnesium requirement of
the rat."
Unknowingly, Dental
Abstracts for May, 1964, reported the same observation
in publishing an abstract of an article from the Journal of
the Southern California Dental Association (December, 1963).
This article purports to show that an increase of refined food in
the diets of rats increases the incidence of caries. But the only
change that was made in the diet involved comparing the effects
of whole wheat flour and refined white flour.
Whole wheat flour contains 113 mg. of magnesium per 100 grams.
White flour has only 25. So in substituting white flour for whole
wheat, the researchers were actually depriving the rats of large
amounts of magnesium--and finding that more caries developed.
There were 3.64 carious lesions per rat on the white flour diet,
which also contained the high calcium foods cottage cheese and
milk, that created a magnesium deficiency. On the same diet, but
using high magnesium whole wheat flour, there were only 1.16
carious lesions.
This research was conducted at Loma Linda University in California by Steinman
Saunders, Gilliland, Holub, and Tague.
Since there is usually a deficiency of magnesium in the
population, the belief that we must have lots of calcium to
prevent cavities could result in just the opposite effect.
Drinking large quantities of milk, therefore, could be one of the
causes of dental caries.
Up to this point we have been dealing with experiments on
guinea pigs and rats. Has the same effect ever been proved with
people? It has! Three years later, in the April 29, 1961, issue
of Nature, published in London, an article previously
mentioned appeared, describing some work that took place at the
University of Otago in New Zealand.
The discovery was accidental, as so often happens in medical
research. An alkaline phosphate was administered to a group of
200 patients, ranging from five to 56 years old, during a period
of three years, and it was noticed as a side effect that it
reduced the number of cavities on the surface enamel of the
teeth. Further investigation revealed that it was the magnesium
in the phosphate compound that was the responsible factor.
The following are details of seven extracted teeth of persons
who received the magnesium compound, all of which had a great
reduction in the incidence of caries. In these cases the teeth were extracted and then
tested for their calcium and magnesium content, as
follows:
| |
Calcium
|
Magnesium
|
|
4.73
|
0.22
|
|
4.33
|
0.13
|
|
3.65
|
0.42
|
|
4.19
|
0.49
|
|
4.35
|
0.30
|
|
4.31
|
0.10
|
|
3.50
|
0.30
|
|
--------
|
--------
|
|
Average
|
4.15
|
0.28
|
The following are the figures for the teeth of persons who did
not get the magnesium compound and who had more caries.
| |
Calcium
|
Magnesium
|
|
4.75
|
0.03
|
|
4.60
|
0.05
|
|
4.75
|
0.19
|
|
4.70
|
0.27
|
|
4.42
|
0.08
|
|
4.13
|
0.28
|
|
4.60
|
0.14
|
|
4.50
|
0.12
|
|
--------
|
--------
|
|
Average
|
4.55
|
0.14
|
In this case there were only half the amounts of magnesium in
the teeth. We can deduce several things from these figures:
First, the magnesium from the magnesium compound taken by Group I
showed up to a certain extent in the teeth and it is believed by
the researchers that this gave the teeth a resistance to
caries.
Second, it appears, according to this project, as in the
Missouri research, that, calcium does not play a part in
preventing caries, as is popularly supposed. In fact the article
in Nature states: "Preliminary chemical analyses,
carried out in the chemistry department of the University of
Otago, have indicated that an important role can possibly be
assigned to magnesium [phosphate] in the stabilization of
chemical, physical and electrokinetic states of the surface
calcium." In other words, the calcium requires stabilization, and
magnesium does just that. Here possibly is a situation where, in
the absence of magnesium, calcium can be a troublemaker rather
than a help in preventing caries.
Another proof that calcium does not prevent cavities is the
fact that although the consumption of milk in the U.S. is high,
so is the general rate of dental caries. Milk is a food low in
magnesium. Bone meal, however, which
we know is a cavities preventer, is very high in magnesium,
because three-quarters of the body's store of this mineral is in
the bone structure.
Incidentally, the New Zealand researchers, who were aware of
the worldwide fluoride controversy, went to the trouble of
including a statement in their paper to the effect that the
magnesium compound they used was fluoride-free.
Only seven examples were given of the teeth of persons in this
experiment who had received the magnesium compound because these
were the only ones of the 200 cases that had had teeth
extracted.
As we said, this fallacy about calcium as a caries preventer
will die hard. When Dr.
Ritchie, the Otago University researcher, saw in what
direction his work was going, he knew that the vested medical
opinion might not accept his findings, so he protected his
position, as will be seen in the following letter, written to our
librarian, by W. C. H. Edwards
of the Royal University of Malta:
"DEAR MRS. LOMAKO,
"Thank you for your letter of 8th May about my collaboration
with Dr. D. B. Ritchie.
"I am afraid I cannot help you further in this matter. I
assisted Dr. Ritchie for two main reasons. One was that local
medical opinion was very suspicious of his claims that
enhancing the magnesium content of the diet could reduce
incidence of caries, and it was essential that an independent
collaborator should be involved in the Project. I, therefore,
prepared the necessary solution of enamel samples, and Dr.
Ritchie carried out the estimations under my guidance, but he
was in ignorance of the origin of the solutions with which I
supplied him. In this way he could be exonerated from
allegations that he had in any way been influenced in reaching
the final results. Not until the end of the series did we
compare notes, relating the magnesium content to the source of
the sample.
"The second reason for my collaboration was the need to have
an experienced analyst oversee the actual work of analysis. The
method used could (and actually did in some instances) differ
in its results from the straightforward literature descriptions
of E. D. T. A. estimations, and we thought it might be
necessary to make modifications to suit the particular
problem.
"I presume that you have been in touch with Dr. Ritchie. I
have had no contact with him since 1960.
"All good wishes,
"Yours sincerely,
W. G. H. EDWARDS
Professor of Chemistry."
A letter received in 1961 from G. S. Jones, a doctor of
veterinary medicine, first called our attention to a paper presented by John A. Meyers, M.D.,
to the New York Academy of Dentistry on February 13, 1958. This
paper is entitled "The Role of
Some Nutritional Elements in the Health of the Teeth and Their
Supporting Structures" (printed in Annals of Dentistry,
Vol. XVLI, No. 2, June, 1958).
Dr. Meyers gives high praise to Dr. L. B. Barnett's
investigations in Hereford and Dallas, Texas, in bone
development. Dr. Barnett makes mention of the fact that people in
older years frequently have fracture of the cervical neck of the
femur and these are very difficult to heal in many localities.
However, he noted that this fracture rarely occurs in Deaf Smith
County, whereas it was common in Dallas County, Texas, where he
also practiced. When a fracture did occur in Deaf Smith, healing
was easy and rapid even in people 80 to 100 years old. In
contrast, fractures in Dallas were common and very difficult to
heal, if not impossible. One of his investigations of the mineral
content of the ash of young males of Deaf Smith County and Dallas
County showed the calcium and phosphorus to be about the same in
both places--42 percent calcium and 15 percent phosphorus.
However, there is five times as much magnesium in Deaf Smith
subjects as in the Dallas ones, 2 percent and 0.4 percent
respectively.
Dr. Barnett gives much credit to the water of Deaf Smith in
furnishing the extra magnesium. Here is a portion of the analysis
quoted (in parts per million):
|
Element
|
Deaf Smith County
|
Dallas County
|
|
Fluorine
|
1.3
|
|
|
Iodine
|
0.16
|
0.023
|
|
Calcium
|
23.0
|
4.0
|
|
Magnesium
|
16.0
|
8.0
|
Dolomite For Teeth
We interviewed Dr. Barnett in September of 1966. He told us
that supplementing the diet with magnesium would be a much better
method than fluorides for decay prevention. Dr. Barnett also said
he would like to see the water supplies and soils treated with
magnesium, in view of the fact that the Hereford Clinic and Deaf Smith Research Foundation
found 60 percent of 5,000 people to be magnesium deficient.
Dr. Meyers in his paper gives much credit to the "iodine" in
bone development and uses magnesium iodide and zinc iodide
extensively in his practice to treat infected teeth and to
tighten loose teeth in their sockets as well as to prevent tooth
decay. Of course he prescribes vitamins and even proteins when he
thinks necessary.
The Archives of Oral Biology (Vol. 11, 1966) contains
a study conducted by A. Stralfors at the University of Umea in
Sweden. This experiment found that defatted cocoa had a strong
caries-inhibiting effect, whereas cocoa butter, the fat element
'n cocoa, actually increased caries in hamsters. The report
concluded: "They clearly point to the conception that the
defatted cocoa powder contains the substance or substances
capable of inhibiting caries."
Such findings, however, are no signal for us to start buying
chocolate candies by the carload. The chocolate we see in stores
has been emulsified with fats and sweetened with sugars to such
an extent that it can only be the culprit responsible for the
fantastic number of cavities plaguing our nation, especially the
children. Early theories implicating sugar are still up held
today.
Avoid Carbohydrates
The May, 1966, issue of Dental Abstracts presents a
valuable opinion by Dr. Samuel Dreizen of Northwestern
University. The summary states, "Caries in susceptible persons
exists in direct proportion to the quantity of fermentable
carbohydrates in the diet. Diets completely devoid of such
carbohydrates are incapable of producing caries . . . An
excessive consumption of sugar and concentrated sweets is the
most prominent dietary feature associated with a high caries
prevalence."
If you are concerned about your teeth, substitute a
magnesium-rich nutrient for those slow-dissolving, acid-forming
chewing gums and hard sucking candies. Soft carbohydrates are
much harder to brush away than crunchy vegetables and good meat.
Dolomite and bone meal can give you
the minerals you need. Avoid milk which more and more seems to be
a prime cause of the soft teeth with which many of today's
youngsters are afflicted.
The dentist of tomorrow, hopefully, will know enough about
magnesium to recommend it to us as a decay-preventive measure. As
Dr. Barnett told us: "Magnesium has for far too long a time been
the mystery mineral. This is a real tragedy, because of the
mineral's great importance to the human physiology. The trend is
now beginning to change, and last year [1965] there were 250
research reports published on magnesium. This is only a
beginning. There is a great deal more to learn about this
important mineral."
So we say to all dentists and doctors who are chasing the
fluoride rainbow--get hep about magnesium! Start a national
campaign on the subject! Find out the truth! Is it calcium or is
it magnesium . . . or is it fluoride? Or what is it?
This page was first uploaded to The Magnesium Web Site on
January 3, 2001
http://www.mgwater.com/
Healthy Water
Association--USA