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Hello everyone,

In a perfect world, our teeth and mouth would be flawlessly healthy, self-cleaning, fresh, and never need brushing or maintenance.

We do not live in a perfect world.

Nutritional Causes of Poor Dental and Oral Health

In fact, the reason many of the nutritional pioneers of the early- to mid-20th century were dentists is because they were witnessing the marked decline of people’s oral health. More cavities, gum disease, decay, mouth and tooth infections…

Why? They wanted to know the answer why people’s oral health was getting so much worse just during the course of their own careers.

Dentists like Weston A Price, Melvin Page, and Royal Lee, who founded Standard Process, pioneered the nutritional research we rely on so heavily in our practice to help our patients.

What did they conclude was the culprit?

Nutritional deficiencies. Caused by processed food and the rise of modern agricultural practices relying on chemicals and depleting nutrients from the soil.

Has this situation improved since the 1920s-30s?

No. No, it has not.

The same processed foods and nutritionally depleting agriculture that caused the tsunami of oral disease 100 years ago continues to this day, and the situation is only accelerating.

This means we must take care of our nutrition and, by extension, our mouths and teeth.

The Importance of Terrain

Dr. Sheehan and I see a holistic dentist. Every time we get our teeth cleaned, the hygienist takes a swab of the inside of our mouth and looks at it under a microscope to observe which microbes are present.

Dr. Sheehan has ZERO pathogenic (disease-causing) microbes in his mouth.

I have one variety of suspicious-looking bacteria, but there aren’t very many of them.

We both work hard to take care of ourselves to make sure we have enough nutrients. But even still, our bodies’ immune health is expressing itself differently in the form of different oral microbes.

Why would we have different microbes? Because we have different chemistry!

If germ theory were 100% correct (and I’m not saying it’s not at all correct), Dr. Sheehan and I would have exactly the same microbes. I mean, we share everything else!

But we don’t have the same microbes. And I can guarantee you if we both did a stool test, our gut microbe profile would be different too.

2 Ways to Work on Oral Health: From the Inside and the Outside

We are the product of several generations of processed food (see our last newsletter on Dr. Pottenger’s cats). We are also under severe stress from our external and internal environments (for example: pesticides, work stress, viruses, chemicals in our air and water, etc. etc.) It’s no wonder we have health challenges and issues with our teeth and mouth.

We must work on our oral health from two directions—both from the inside and the outside.

The first is nutritionally (from the inside). Here are a few ways to do this:

• Eat a nutrient-dense diet. If you haven’t taken our Eat With Purpose Course yet (it’s free!), that’s a good start on learning how to do this.
• Avoid processed foods that are just empty calories. Processed foods stress out your liver, gallbladder, pancreas, adrenals, brain, etc., etc., etc.
• See your Nutrition Response Testing practitioner to make sure you are getting enough important factors for the health of your mouth. For example, each tooth needs enough minerals and fat-soluble nutrients to grow healthy and strong. It also must have a strong immune system (yes—your teeth have their own immune system!) as well as be able to drain waste products effectively.
• Some common supplements we see support teeth are: Standard Process BioDent, Calcium Lactate, Cataplex C, and Parotid PMG.

The second way to work on your oral health is from the outside—think cleaning!

Yes, we must take our dentists seriously when they tell us to brush and floss. If too much buildup occurs, infection can start to fester. And the health of the mouth reflects the health of the rest of the body!

Here are a few ways to take care of your teeth:

1) Brush every day. Preferably after each meal.

2) Floss daily. There has been some controversy in the last few years about whether flossing is actually helpful to prevent tooth decay. One thing is known, however…when you floss regularly, your gums will not bleed as much. That means they’re stronger. This IS a good thing. By the way, if you do suffer from bleeding gums, Cataplex C is an excellent nutritional support.

3) Use a water pick. This will also strengthen the gums and deter the overgrowth of harmful mouth bacteria and their biofilms (e.g., dental plaque). Some of these mouth bacteria, like porphyromonas gingivalis and Streptococcus mutans, have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and various types of systemic autoimmunity.

4) BONUS STEP: Try oil pulling! This will also reduce the level of bacteria in the mouth (here is some evidence for that assertion😊)

To learn how to do oil pulling, check out this short video.

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I hope you found this information helpful. Here’s to your excellent oral health!

Sincerely,

Laura Sheehan

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