How to Stop Tooth Decay

If sugar consumption is considered the one and only cause of cavities, how much is too much?

For videos on dental and oral health:

Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

Captions for this video are available in several languages. To find yours, click on the settings wheel on the lower-right of the video and then "Subtitles/CC."
To view the subtitles in transcript format, click on the ellipsis button below the video, choose "Open transcript", and select the language you'd like to view them in.

[anacarolinarezende]

I'm a brazilian dentist, and this was the best video that I have ever seen! Thanks Dr. I'm your fan 😍

[Anna-qzxw]

I used to have to fill 2-4 cavities every year and thought it was due to bad genetics (mom was the same way). Then, in attempt to loose weight I cut out all the sugar and had zero cavities ever since (7 years). Still feels like a miracle.

[Battlefield]

my mom drinks 1.5 liters of pepsi a day for about 40 years and smokes almost a pack a day. Recently she has had to get all her teeth removed. I told her this is due to her drinking pepsi and smoking, and she got really mad and said it has "absolutely nothing to do with it" and was caused by "stress"

[barneygoogle]

Someday in the future, historians will scratch their heads wondering how it could ever have been considered normal for a huge percentage of the population to be dependent on processed pills to treat conditions that could easily have been avoided with an unprocessed diet.

[JosephNJ]

Fruit still green light. That's what I can here to hear.

[vyleart]

Your channel is one of my top three on youtube. Pure unfiltered information and direct knowledge based on statistics. Having suffered most if my childhood due to cavities, I hope all parents out there will take note for their kids. It is one of the biggest disservice they can do for their children’s health/quality of life future.

[maromaro]

it's been the 26th month, I stopped buying and eating any sweets, instead eating since 01.06.2017. just plain fruits !!

[sarahvegangarden]

Giving up sugar is really hard work in this culture. I'm slowly reducing sugar intake by reducing the number of times I go to a supermarket. Shopping carefully online for food and ingredients, rather than impulse-buying in shops, is helping me change my habits.
Thanks for all you do, Dr Greger!

[ChristopherIverson]

Damn it sugar, why do you taste so good?

[qigong]

If it rots your teeth imagine what it’s doing to the rest of your body

[verysmarteducation]

This is good to know because going to the dentist is never fun. Plus you don't have to worry about being sold services you don't need. My mother had "deep cleaning" and has pain because of it. New campaign should be brush, floss, and stay away from sugar. But you can't have that because the major food companies wouldn't be able to profit. Great video.

[lisengel]

I like this: the ideal goal is 0 gr added sugar - it is easy to understand but as everybody knows not quite as easy to do - sugar is addictive - but it is important to know the consequence - that might make it easier for some of us to go for it.

[eatplantsloveanimals]

My dad doesn't eat any sugar -- never liked sweet stuff his whole life -- and only has 4 teeth left. My mom eats lots of refined carbs and sugar and never gets cavities. I've been eating whole food plant based for 9 years, no sugar. I hadn't had cavities in years (even while eating terribly) so I neglected to go the dentist from 2014-2018 because I didn't have insurance and I figured it was all right since I was eating so healthy. Finally went last year and had to get 6 fillings. It's obvious to me that it's not just about diet and it's not about sugar, at least for my family.

[chrisnamaste]

Since the age of 13 (decades ago) I have been avoiding added sugars successfully, except the added incidental stuff from eating out. I have no cavities or fillings. The last time I went to my dentist he said all was well. I asked him how many my age that he had seen are filling free. He said only a handful in over 25, 000 patients. So you too can achieve this 99% percentile ranking at middle age with really minor effort but with real discipline.

[grayisgood]

If using floride toothpaste worked, there would be very few people with cavities in the US.

[emh]

20/20 did a show and found 9 out of 10 dentist were crooks.

[Alignmented]

A clarification would need to be made: are we talking white sugar, cane sugar, coconut sugar, raw honey? It's mainly white sugar it seems but what about daily intake of honey with your tea?

[tonymanning]

Had lots of cavities growing up (lots of candy and soda), my mom still doesn’t think that was it.

[marquette]

Great video. Loved the closing argument. Great stuff

[hungarianguy]

This video is quite interesting. All the foods I ate did not have sugar in them while I was in the United States I went to the Dentists he told me I have 4 cavities. I was absolutely shocked. It turned out that the bread I was eating had a huge amount of added sugars in it. I ate 1 kg of bread/day and 50grams of it was added sugar. So sad if you do not eat added sugars your teeth will not have cavities. There is also work being done on restorative dentistry. There is a pill given to people that speeds up the dentin formation of the tooth. If you reduce the sugar intake to 0 and get more vitamin D there have been even cases where dental carriers have been reversed. There is also 1 special type of bacteria that causes carriers what you can kill if you eat garlic cinnamon and abstane from eating added sugar foods. If you do eat foods with sugar then make sure to rinse your mouth with water that is what I always do.