Clarity, caution and curses

In June 2016 someone asked on Always Learning about dealing with dental advice. A response came that seemed strident, but I let it through and followed with commentary (which is the second item below).

The next morning, I found a response just to me, which is the third item. I've removed the name of that person, as it's not about her. It's about the ideas. I've linked the discussion, though this particular comment was removed by its author.

(The original question wasn't the problem, it was this one load of bad advice not based in unschooling, but this page is because of her response to me on the side, cursing me. 😳 The group was moved to another forum, and the link below is good as of 2023.)

Similarly, I would not suggest Xylitol wipes for your child's mouth ... Xylitol is a carbohydrate found in the birch tree and is naturally found in several kinds of fruit. It has a chemical structure that looks like a cross between a sugar and an alcohol, but it is neither. Currently, the xylitol used in the manufacture of consumer goods is produced by “hydrogenating” xylose; a chemical process that treats a compound with hydrogen usually with a catalyst such as nickel. Unless the ingredient is part of a food that is eaten, I would not suggest adding it to an oral care regimen for either yourself or your child..

Your best bet is to change your family's diet ... remove the processed foods, incorporate oil pulling (with coconut oil), and switch out the grain products for those that are made from sprouted grains. Use toothbrushes with soft bristles made from activated charcoal, bamboo bristles (available on Amazon) ... these are much gentler on teeth and will not erode the enamel from the tooth surfaces like conventional bristles will. If you must use toothpaste, switch to one that is 100% natural with ingredients that are beneficial to the human body ... Twin Lotus makes a good one with activated charcoal (also on Amazon). .

Above all, I would suggest getting the book ... we healed two molars, in 6 months' time, in my 11 year old daughter's mouth that we had been advised (by her dentist) would need root canals. The majority of dentists are not working to heal teeth or educate the public on oral care, they are in business to make money.

Best of luck to you =).

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I responded, to the group (edited to add an "s" in "no one knows for sure"):
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From: Sandra Dodd
Subject: Re: [AlwaysLearning] Re: finding balance regarding dental care
Date: June 4, 2016 at 3:28:48 PM MDT
To: AlwaysLearning@... [Now here at GroupsIO]

I let the long post through from ________ even though some of it isn’t great unschooling advice.

Dental treament is likely screwy. Everyone who is in business is in business to make money. So politicizing it and demonizing dentists isn’t going to help a single human anywhere in the world. But because dental theories do change, I don’t mind some other ideas being out there.

Please, anyone, everyone, don’t believe anything you’ve only read once, especially in a forum like this, or on facebook. In all my life I’ve never seen as big a flood of falsehood and nonsense as I’ve seen in 2016 so far. The second worst was 2015. Next year should be worse.

BE CAREFUL what you get excited about or fearful of. Be thoughtful. Read a little. Try a little. Wait a while. Watch. Not just about unschooling.

-=- Current dental practices actually end up destroying the remaining tooth and underlying bone structures, creating further damage to the human body and causing an eventual loss of all teeth-=-

This is incorrect, as to eventual loss of all teeth. For people born in the 1920s (in the U.S.) LOTS and lots lost so many teeth that dentists pulled the remaining teeth and created full dentures. VERY few people born in the 1950’s and 60’s have full dentures, compared to their parents and grandparents. For millenials, it’s plainly too soon to know. Beliefs WILL change again, and then change again. So don’t be duped by any extremists, and don’t believe everything you read.

-=-The majority of dentists are not working to heal teeth or educate the public on oral care, they are in business to make money.-=-

Quite damning of people who learned a trade and got a job and have families to support. “In business to make money” seems so cold and evil, there.

-=-Use toothbrushes with soft bristles made from activated charcoal, bamboo bristles (available on Amazon) ... these are much gentler on teeth and will not erode the enamel from the tooth surfaces like conventional bristles will. If you must use toothpaste, switch to one that is 100% natural with ingredients that are beneficial to the human body ... Twin Lotus makes a good one with activated charcoal (also on Amazon). -=-

Those are not “in business to make money”? Is Twin Lotus not a corporation? If they discover that their product isn’t as great as they’re advertising, will they send money back all over the world and apologize, or won’t they dodge and weave to defend the company from loss?

My strongly held belief about most things is that no one knows for sure, knowledge grows and changes, but that stress and fear are always harmful.

People live when they live. If they need medical treatment, when and where they live will determine what might be happening to them. Nobody lives in the future. I doubt there will be a future in which humans know everything perfectly. So far that hasn’t happened, and what’s recommended in one country isn’t the same as across an imaginary line. So ANY freak-out or self-righteous fright will hurt more than help.

Avoid buying into other people’s fright or assuredness or sales pitches.
Check other sources, calmly. Know that it will all change by the time your children are grown.

Sandra

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This arrived after I was asleep:
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From: ....
Subject: Re: [AlwaysLearning] Re: finding balance regarding dental care
Date: June 4, 2016 at 10:05:53 PM MDT
To: "[email protected]"

It's really unfortunate that you are so very stuck in an old paradigm that your mind is closed to anything outside of your very small box. I've deleted my comment and I've left your group. I follow my intuition as to unschooling my children ... and I don't really need my email inbox filled to over capacity with a few hundred daily posts from folks whose egos are so very loud that they cannot hear the small voice of intuition telling them the direction to go.

In response to your public ridicule, I bet you probably honestly believe that vaccinations are safe for children ... or that there are really no health problems directly tied to petroleum based products ... I bet you probably also believe that the Susan G Komen foundation is ethical ... or that maybe all that hype about aluminum in deodorant is just that, hype ... or maybe you believe that it's okay for doctors to receive monetary compensation from pharmaceutical companies for keeping people sick.

Some day, you will hear the small voice and you will awaken ... and it will be all at once ... and you will never know that you were once so very close-minded in your control over such a small group of people focused upon being Victims rather than self-empowerment. And some day in the not-too-far-off future, you will experience a huge number of health challenges and your public ridicule of another human being will surface from your memory banks as a gentle reminder that close-minded perspectives are not ones to be freely shared with under-educated and under-informed people.

Good luck Sandra ... I wish for you a healthy path that is not so focused on you, but rather on sharing the ever-evolving perspectives of others.

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Commentary for this page:

I don't consider the members of Always Learning to be under-educated or under-informed people. I don't think I control them, nor that they are focused on being Victims-with-a-capital-V. "Self-empowerment" doesn't come from reading single books and switching toothpastes to something from a corporation in Thailand instead of a corporation in one's own home country (apologies to anyone from Thailand who reads this—it's not your fault).

Unschooling parents are faced with the same choices and pressures any parents have, except instead of school reports and schedules, they have the skepticism and criticism of friends and relatives. What I HAVE, for many years, tried to encourage in anyone who reads anything I write, is for them to make thoughtful choices.

The Value of Choices

Making the Better Choice

Considering Decisions

Her response was a curse. Goofy, and a curse.

"Some day, you will hear the small voice and you will awaken ... and it will be all at once ... and you will never know that you were once so very close-minded..." (but then I'm told I will remember...)

The real curse was "And some day in the not-too-far-off future, you will experience a huge number of health challenges..." and then she wishes me a healthy path.

So much noise, so little calm thought.

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Read a little, try a little...



Clarity



"You are closed minded and I truly hope karma smites you and yours." (and other insults)