Hey thanks for the reply! I definitely agree that there's WAY too many dentists out there, and it seems that they all like to take care of the symptoms rather than the root of the problem. Hence my decision to look for other solutions. I guess it just is a little alarming that I should get the beginnings of cavities, but I"m really hoping I can get that under control.

Can't say I'm under much stress at the moment though; I've mostly just been enjoying life for the last little while. That's why it's time now to work again. Alas, not so much time for relaxing, but at least a lot of sunshine, and we all know how good Vitamin D is to us, right?

I've actually been avoiding dried fruit all together, and sticking to fresh fruits and veggies and a minimum of nuts, avocadoes.  I haven't looked at Doug Graham's book, though I've pieced together this and that from secondary information about it.  I'm curious, does he discuss teeth issues in his book?

wow, thanks for your quick replies!

hi ellie, i've also thought of chewing gum; but i'm sort of doubtful about its effects, since i was chewing lots of gum when that first cavity appeared! 

michaela, this wadging idea seems pretty interesting. actually i also found an online excerpt from the book you mention. it's certainly something i can try doing. on the downside, his 'remineralizing' program doesn't seem to be possible for my right now, as i can't possibly stay away from eating fruits while working! also the quantities of greens necessary are mind-boggling to me; especially if i eat so much fruit during the day, how am i going to manage to eat four pounds of spinach in the evening! do they sell spinach as a supplement?

Hey everyone, this is the first time I'm posting, though I've been following some of the discussions with interest. I've been eating nearly 100% for about three weeks now, and overall it hasn't really been that hard. The only problem I've had at times is getting enough calories in me, but I'm starting to get better at this.

But I'm about to run into a problem. But first, I should explain what made me want to eat raw in the first place. I was getting some pretty serious gum disease, to the point where I had constant headaches from the associated pain and I couldn't sleep at night. Some research on the internet convinced me that I could drastically improve this condition by eating raw foods. So I gave it a go. My gums are definitely a lot better, much less pain/headaches, however, I'm starting to develop cavities, probably from the crazy amount of fruit I'm eating. Again, I did lots of reading on the matter, and the advice that's there is to eat tons for green for dental health, and to eat ALL your fruits during one or two meals and brush/rinse you teeth afterwards. Now, that advice is all nice and well, but it brings me to the dilemma.

In about a day I'm leaving for work. I work as a treeplanter in Canada, and essentially the job involves 10 hours of continuous physical labour, four days in a row, with one day off afterwards, repeat this for four months.  People have compared it to running a marathon each day (though that's not exactly how I'd to describe it) but certainly energy expenditure is rather high. I don't exactly how many calories I consume in a day while working, but for sure more than 3000, possibly closer to 4000.  Now, it's obvious to me that there are hardcore raw athletes, and therefore it should be entirely possible to do this job on a raw diet, but my problem involves my teeth.  From what I've gathered, raw athletes tend to fuel themselves by eating an enormous amount of fruit, whether fresh or dried.  However, fruit seems to give me cavities. There's also no way I can limit my fruit take to one or two large meals per day... having done this job in the past tended to involve a sugary snack every hour, to keep energy levels up. And I definitely don't have the time to brush my teeth after every banana I consume!

So, I was wondering, if anyone had any ideas on how to work around this dilemma? I want to be able to get enough calories, keep my energy level up all day, and in addition not destroy my teeth. I'd really really appreciate any advice anyone can give.

Oh, and sorry this post is sooooo long!