Had 6 mo check up last month and wanted to provide update.

Tech did not mention pocket until I did. We talked at length about diet-- though could not get her to see the effects of low carb.

Explained that I brushed with baking soda and she carefully poibnted out the strong abrasiveness of that. Ecplained that I brush lightly now, across the teeth and not slamming down into the gum line, Spread the baking soda all over the interior of my mouth. She was polite but reiterated the abrassiveness to some extent.

What I can say with certainty is that my " long in the tooth" look is noticeably less. The "pocket" is almost gone but not fully-- catches strings of meat between the teeth now, not hiding in the pocket anymore. Teeth are slippery clean more often than not. Seems to combat carb consumption better than tooth paste. Eating low carb AND brushing with baking soda has a better effect combined.

Wondering-- labels o toothbrushes are not true: "soft" new brush was more like a "hard" brush. Went back to old brush that has stiffened up, but is still much softer than the new "soft" brush. Goal is to gently brush gums, tongue and roof of mouth, and then hold manageable amount of baking soda laden fluid in mouth for a moment. Not two minute of brushing, but rather much of time is baking soda in mouth before spitting.

If baking soda is somewhat abrasive, how to the techniques of "polishing" teeth stack up against brushing? I am now wondering if twice a year cleaning is really necessary, perhaps once is enough?

Keeping up with Vit K2, multi-vite, vit D, and Mg citrate. Dropped calcium-- enough infoods, to bring other major minerals into better balance with Ca. Easy to get too much Ca, but getting Mg, potassium and phosphorus in sufficient amounts is more difficult. Dropping the Ca supplement seems the logical strategy to balance these 4. Consuming lots of Ca has not proven to be a sound strategy given the higher rates of heart attacks with higher levels of supplemented Ca.

Starting to wonder if the body is better adapted to pulling nutrients out of food when food is scarce, than its ability to manage nutrients when food is consumed in over eating....... just a theory Im noodling around.