How Do You Brush Your Teeth?

I’m a huge believer in good dental hygiene. Not just for a sexy smile. Every bit of food and nourishment that goes into your body passes by your teeth.

Poor dental health can contribute to lots of nasty health problems:

• Heart disease

• Strokes

• Pneumonia

• COPD

• Diabetes

• Dementia and Alzheimer’s

• Rheumatoid Arthritis

• Kidney disease

• Cancer

• Thyroid issues

Yet I see so many people come to my assisted living homes with bad teeth. Or no teeth. We have to help many people clean out their dentures on a daily basis.

When we go to the dentist, what are we told?

“Make sure you brush and floss.” Sometimes they may also tell you to use a water pick.

That’s it. Brushing with a fluoride toothpaste and flossing is all you need to keep your teeth strong and healthy. If that was the case, we would not have 47% of Americans with periodontal (gum) disease and 70% when you look at people over 65. 13% of those older Americans have complete tooth loss after age 65.

Some dental procedures like root canals can also be a big problem. Over 7000 people in the US are admitted to hospitals annually due to an infection in a root canal. Those infections can lead to the more chronic conditions mentioned above.

And yet hardly any of my dentists have talked to me about the ramifications of tooth problems and their link to other chronic diseases.

There also seems to be a problem with fluoride itself. Fluoride is in the water most of us drink. It has a sordid history that makes it sounds like something you don’t want to put in your body.

There are links to fluoride even being a neurotoxin.

I’m not here to definitively tell you to stop brushing with fluoride toothpastes. That’s between you and your dentist.

Instead I want to talk to you about actions we’ve taken both for myself and my assisted living residents that have seemed to help.

Let me stress that I am ALL in favor of people going to see their dentist. Many of our residents had not seen a dentist in years when they move in. We try to remedy that situation.

A dentist can check for infections and neutralize them. If you can afford it, try to see a holistic dentist who has certification in SMART (Safe Mercury Amalgam Technique) that can help you remove old mercury fillings.

The next best thing I would recommend is diet. Removing processed foods, carbohydrates and sugars alone will help your teeth immensely.

Did you know that people thousands of years ago had better teeth than we have today? Bad teeth paralleled the development of farming and eating more carbohydrates.

Ever since I switched to a carnivore diet, dentist visits are very smooth. My dentist tells me what we all like to hear.

“Whatever you’re doing, please keep it up.”

And I just brush my teeth with baking soda. I’ve also seen people recommend a mixture of baking soda and coconut oil. Or do some ‘oil pulling’. I tried oil pulling for a couple of years and did not notice a lot of improvement in my dental health. My dentist also told me they have not seen evidence of efficacy.

Maybe others of you have some good recommendations?