Has anyone ever experienced sticky teeth when fasting? They don’t feel furry. They still feel clean but if I clench a little, when I separate them they have a slight stickiness. It only happens when I fast and starts about the 14 hour mark. I’m yet to get a ketone meter to see if I can work out if it’s linked to a certain level of ketosis. I’ve done a fair bit of googling and can’t find anyone else experiencing this and I’d really like to know what it is. My dentist had no idea but then he didn’t know what keto was either!
Sticky Teeth
ava_ad0re
(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja )
#2
I have never heard of this before, or anyone describe it sorry!
atomicspacebunny
(Bunny)
#3
I could give an idea about what it might be:
Your not feeding the bad bacteria between your teeth (which are made of phosphorus) sugar, that like to hide under the gums and between the teeth, your saliva contains Vitamin K which your teeth (phosphorus) are absorbing in the absence of a high sugar diet so the teeth are becoming receptive (transformed into a softer electrolyte {phosphorus}; hence “sticky feeling on teeth“) to absorbing the vitamin K and calcium from your blood stream in your salivas non-sugar PH? Sugar and artificial sweeteners are a very acidic food.
Bones and teeth (phosphorus) oppose calcium in the presence of high sugar/glucose because Vitamin K and D cannot function properly to transport/shuttle it to your bones and teeth so it (calcium) hangs around in your blood and sticks to your veins and arteries.
Dr. Weston Price (a dentist) proved this and could heal dental cavities with organic cod liver oil and grass fed butter by mixing them together? No fillings needed[3]!
References:
[1] “…Dr. Price always gave cod liver oil with high-vitamin butter oil, extracted by a slow centrifuge from good quality spring or fall butter. He found that cod liver oil on its own was relatively ineffective but combined with butter oil produced excellent results. We now know that butter oil is an excellent source of vitamin K, which is needed to balance vitamins A and D in cod liver oil. Other good sources of vitamin K in western diets are aged cheeses and the fat and livers of ducks and geese; other sources include butter and egg yolks. Without the balance of vitamin K, cod liver oil could lead to heart troubles, bone problems, tooth decay and gum disease. …” …More
[2] “…Once a standard supplement in traditional European societies, cod liver oil provides fat-soluble vitamins A and D, which Dr. Price found present in the diet of “primitives” in amounts ten times higher than the typical American diet of his day. Cod liver oil supplements are a must for women and their male partners, to be taken for several months before conception, and for women during pregnancy. Growing children will also benefit greatly from a small daily dose. …” …More
[3] Vitamin K2 and Dental Health: Weston Price was primarily interested in Activator X because of its ability to control dental caries. By studying the remains of human skeletons from past eras, he estimated that there had been more dental caries in the preceding hundred years than there had been in any previous thousand-year period and suggested that Activator X was a key substance that people of the past obtained but that modern nutrition did not adequately provide. Price used the combination of high-vitamin cod liver oil and high-Activator X butter oil as the cornerstone of his protocol for reversing dental caries. This protocol not only stopped the progression of tooth decay, but completely reversed it without the need for oral surgery by causing the dentin to grow and remineralize, sealing what were once active caries with a glassy finish. One 14-year-old girl completely healed 42 open cavities in 24 teeth by taking capsules of the high-vitamin cod liver oil and Activator X concentrate three times a day for seven months. Activator X also influences the composition of saliva. Price found that if he collected the saliva of individuals immune to dental caries and shook it with powdered bone or tooth meal, phosphorus would move from the saliva to the powder; by contrast, if he conducted the same procedure with the saliva of individuals susceptible to dental caries, the phosphorus would move in the opposite direction from the powder to the saliva. Administration of the Activator X concentrate to his patients consistently changed the chemical behavior of their saliva from phosphorus-accepting to phosphorus-donating. The Activator X concentrate also reduced the bacterial count of their saliva. In a group of six patients, administration of the concentrate reduced the Lactobacillus acidophilus count from 323,000 to 15,000. In one individual, the combination of cod liver oil and Activator X concentrate reduced the L. acidophilus count from 680,000 to 0. In the 1940s, researchers showed that menadione and related compounds inhibited the bacterial production of acids in isolated saliva.47 Menadione itself is a toxic synthetic analogue of vitamin K, but animal tissues are able to convert a portion of it to vitamin K2. The ability of vitamin K-related compounds to inhibit acid production in isolated saliva had no relationship to their vitamin activity, and the most effective of these compounds had practically no vitamin activity at all.48 Researchers unfortunately assumed that because vitamin K did not have a unique role in inhibiting acid formation in saliva within a test tube that it had no nutritional role in preventing tooth decay within living beings. …”…More
Empowered_Nutrition
(Katie)
#6
Thanks for the replies everyone. I drink at least 2.5 litres of water per day and more when fasting, with electrolytes, so nope, not dehydration. @atomicspacebunny thank you for your detailed response. I struggled to completely get my head around it, but I would wonder why it’s only when fasting? I’m strict keto always and only experience it when fasting after about 14 hours…
jedesah
(Jean Rémi Desjardins)
#7
I’m late to the party, but I just wanted to add that this sounds pretty much exactly like what I experience. It goes away for the most part if I brush my teeth or if I break my fast. I find it super annoying as I don’t particularly like the feeling and brushing my teeth only offers temporary relief.
I have found that it seems to vary depending on what I ate the day before. I think if I eat something like rice it’s worse the next day but not sure.
Kind of glad to hear I’m not alone. @Empowered_Nutrition Please let me know if you have found out more about this phenomenon or just if you still experience it or if it went away over time.
Empowered_Nutrition
(Katie)
#8
Sorry, didn’t get a notification of this one. Yes, it still happens to me. What about you? It doesn’t bother me, just find it strange.
Sammar
#9
Yes!! I just searched on Google for this and found this forum and created an account, just to say yes me ! Exactly how u described .
I’m doing a prolonged fast (day 2.5 today ) , I think I noticed it on day 1. So strange
PaulL
(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing)
#10
Welcome to the forums. I’d be interested to know if this phenomenon increases or decreases (or neither) with time on the diet. I also wonder if people on carnivore experience this. Though most carnivores, I understand, don’t fast.
ETA:
Interestingly, I just watched a conversation between Sally Norton and Anthony Chaffee about oxalate dumping, which apparently can cause a lot of weird symptoms. Tartar on teeth is one of the possible symptoms Ms. Norton mentions. It therefore makes sense that fasting would cause that sticky feeling, since when you’re fasting, you’re not consuming plants. A cup of tea might be helpful, she says.
The problem with oxalates is that they can build up over years of a high-plant diet, and when we cut the carbs, the body reacts by dumping out some of that build-up. The challenge, Ms. Norton says, is to keep the rate of dumping down to a comfortable level, because the oxalates are capable of causing damage if there’s too much dumping.
kib1
(KM)
#11
I get this. My personal hypothesis is that when I don’t eat, I don’t chew. Any microscopic particles of food remaining will eventually attract bacteria, and the stickiness is the resulting plaque build up which is not removed by the natural scrubbing that eating provides.
MitaLita
#12
Also joined just to add that I’m also experiencing this, and yes, I’m a carnivore and fasting. When I brush, it seems to improve. I’m drinking only vitamins/minerals water, a couple liters daily. Ate cheese ravioli and steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots Thursday evening, then eggs with deli turkey Friday around 6p and just took it one day at a time to see what it would feel like. So far, so good, just this odd sticky teeth feeling that started yesterday, or perhaps the day before. It’s passed midnight, so technically Thursday now. Really appreciated space bunny’s insight.
robintemplin
(Robin)
#13
Welcome to the forum. Hopefully your teeth issue will pass on it’s own. Hoping others will jump on with actual advice.
Janie
(Jane)
#14
I experience this also when fasting and always wondered why since it only happens fasting and after a certain period of time.
Going to do a 48-hr fast next week so I will pay attention to when it starts to happen and report back. I will also brush my teeth to see if it improves.