I’ve got deep pockets. But before you romance scammers get too excited, you should know my deep pockets are not of the monetary kind. They are the kind of deep pockets your dental hygienist discovers, and then she snitches to your dentist, and then he comes to talk to you, while you are still wearing the spit bib, and he is very disappointed in you because last time you said you would use your water pik every single day, but you hate that leaky bulky thing on your bathroom counter more than anything. So here you are. Or, rather, here I am. My dentist does not seem to have much faith I can turn this situation around. My dental hygienist is more optimistic, but she is sweeter than candy,
I brush and floss twice a day, which is top tier dental hygiene compared to a majority of Americans. According to Google’s AI brain, 37.3 percent of the population flosses less than daily, and 32.4 percent don’t floss at all. This blog post isn’t even about flossing. I’m including these numbers just to pump myself up a bit. Trust me, I need it.
The thing that has really wreaked havoc with my gums over time is diet. The candy I stuffed in my mouth as a kid. The diet sodas I guzzled as a teenager. The toast. The pasta. Everything good. I try to keep my gums and teeth sparkling clean but eat food that makes it infinitely more difficult to keep my gums and teeth sparkling clean.
I was thinking about this when I stumbled upon an article called “The Well-Fed Tooth” by a dentist—a man who shares a spiritual kinship with my own dentist—named Fred D. Miller, from 1946.
There are three things you should know about Dr. Fred D. Miller:
- Dr. Fred D. Miller does not have time for your bullshit.
- Dr. Fred D. Miller is a tut-tutter of the highest order.
- Dr. Fred D. Miller is, without a doubt, one of the most delightfully quotable writers you will find in the SRP Historical Archives. Or, as the editors of the magazine that published Dr. Miller’s article put it, “He had a great deal to say and his own way of saying it.”
Herewith, I present to you some of Dr. Fred D. Miller’s best gems from “The Well-Fed Tooth”:
On American idiots and American hucksters: “America is a nation of ‘candyholics’ and soft-drink addicts, of food adulterators, processors and refiners.”
On refined foods vs. hard liquor, Dr. Miller has contrarian thoughts: “I am thoroughly convinced…that candies, hard candies and soft drinks are doing more harm in this country than hard liquor.”
Dr. Miller’s harsh words for the “the candy man,” a patient who exhibited the poor judgement of owning a wholesale candy shop: “Sadly, I told my friend, the candy man, that he needn’t worry about the few intelligent people I could influence; there would always be more than enough foolish people who would fall for his products.”
What Dr. Miller thinks of your capacity to exercise common sense: “Education is a slow process. And arrayed against any program of education is the fact that people decline to exercise the kind of sense that should be common but which is far from common.”
Dr. Miller’s wonderfully catty opinion of the distinguished members of the National Advisory Council of Nutrition: “You should see the meals these nutrition authorities eat! Meat, bread, potatoes, topped off with apple pie a la mode and washed down with cups of coffee…I tell you it is discouraging. These men who are experts eat meals that you and I would not think of eating. I have seen this happen time after time. They do not eat fruit or green leafy salads. They do not drink milk. How are we going to educate the general run of people when their dietary leaders eat like this?”
Dr. Miller reflects on his patients: “The balance of my patients are a chronic pain in the neck.”
“The Well-Fed Tooth” also lays out Dr. Miller’s simple formula for maintaining your teeth and your health, which sounds pretty good to me. He starts with a minimum of a pint of milk per day—and I’d bet dollars to doughnuts he was talking about real milk—plus generous portions of citrus or tomatoes and plenty of green leafy vegetables, of course. Also a daily egg, a serving of cheese or meat (be sure to eat the organs once a week), and other raw fruits and vegetables, including one (no more, no less) potato. And, my favorite, several pats of butter.
After all of that, Dr. Miller would like you to consume enough whole-grain bread “to produce energy for the day’s work and none left over to make you overweight.”
Oof. If only he could see us now!
Dr. Miller did not mention any supplements in his article, but SRP has access to some pretty smart people who know what’s up when it comes to high-quality whole food supplements. Talk to your local Standard Process Practitioner about these and other supplements that might give your own dental health a boost:
- Bio-Dent (for children)
- Biost
- Calcium Lactate
- Cyruta Plus
I very much like Dr. Fred D. Miller, even though I’m sure he would have been disappointed in me. If you enjoy a cantankerous gentleman dispensing sage advice, I encourage you to read his article in full.c
Images from iStock/Wavebreakmedia (main), AlbinaTiplyashina (woman eating cake in bed), nedomacki (little girl eating bread).
