Partial Transcript
What is the role of this oral microbiome and its relationship to the immune system?
So the oral microbiome is a community of between 300 and 800 different bacteria, different types of bacteria in your mouth, and there's like, billions and billions of total numbers of bacteria in your mouth. And there's nothing wrong with any of those bacteria except when they get out of balance. So that's when you get problems like gum disease or tooth decay or dry mouth or any of the other well known problems that people experience in their mouth. It's an imbalance of the bacteria. So the mucous membranes on the inside of your mouth so the inside of your cheeks, the pink part of the gum that you can see, your tongue, the palate, all of that is really porous and it's a gateway into the bloodstream. It's a mechanism for your body to investigate whatever's coming in your mouth, breath, food, liquids, pollen particles, anything that's coming in, through the mouth, is kind of investigated by the body via these mucous membranes so they like a little computer in a way, making sense of the world. You know how babies put was putting everything in their mouths? Well as adults we're not doing that in the same way, but the body is still kind of on this journey of discovery.
Saliva is like a major player in the immune system. And also inside each individual tooth is like a little individual immune system operating inside each tooth. And it's a very complex system. There's more nerves in the jaw and then around the jaw than anywhere else in the body. They're really densely packed and they're really fine. That's why you feel toothache so intensely, if you do have problems.
Inflammation is probably the most well understood impact on our health and that is the result of the immune system being triggered by bacterial imbalance (dysbiosis) in the mouth or by foreign things coming in and we get inflamed and in the gums. A lot of adults are very familiar with that feeling of inflammation where your gums bleed when you floss or they look puffy and they get really bright or really pale. You get ulcers, get abscesses, things like that. And those kinds of inflammation can get into the rest of the body so the bacteria that only lives in your mouth and has been found on the heart when there's been heart disease, in the gut which makes more sense because you're swallowing down bacteria from mouth into the gut all the time, that's not actually such a big deal most of the time because the whole system is set up to take oral bacteria into the gut, but it's when it's getting into the heart or the lungs or the brain, or the joints. That's when it's a real problem. So inflammation in the mouth can cause inflammation elsewhere in the body.
So how is the pandemic impacting dental services?
Yes, well, should we should probably just say that we're recording this on the 19th of March (2020) because it's quite likely that by the time people are listening to this, events will have moved and changed. But as at today, more and more dental associations around the world are advising their region or their country to suspend regular dental services and only provide emergency dental care. And so a lot of dental offices are closing or should be closing. Now one of the issues is that in most countries, most dental practices are privately owned. They're not part of the public health system, but quite separate and in relatively unregulated. And so even though this advice is coming out from the dental associations I'm seeing quite a number of dentists said I'm aware of still continuing to advise their clients is nothing to worry about come in for your checkup or your cleaning, business as usual. So I really want to stress that the advice from the CDC (Centre for Disease Control), from the dental associations is that unless it's an emergency, you shouldn't be going to the dentist.
Why can't we continue going to dental service or what are some of the reasons we should not do that right now?
There's reasons that are for protecting our health. And there's reasons that are protecting other people in the clinics health. And then there's reasons for protecting the wider community that were a part of, so I'll go through them one by one.
So in terms of risk to yourself, standard hygienist cleanings and deep cleanings, tooth extractions, basically any procedures that might compromise the surface of the gums and cause bleeding could really undermine your immunity. And so even if a dentist is working on a tooth, they could do something that you know just breaks through that mucous membrane. And you are then not just vulnerable while you're in the dental chair, but potentially, when you go out and that membrane's open to whatever you're eating and putting in your mouth and breathing in and all of that. So we want to protect ourselves.
But probably the main reason for that advice to stop standard dental practices at the moment is because quite a few regular dental instruments in procedures real normal things that they do. Create aerosol sprays put droplets of your saliva into the air. That's why you'll see your dentist under regular circumstances is fully gloved up, and they're wearing protective glasses and all of that. But it's even, of course, at the moment, there's so much higher risk of those droplets in the air. And what we're hearing is that those droplets can stay in the air for at least three hours. So not only is the staff who are working on your mouth, at risk, if you've got the virus, even if you're asymptomatic, the equipment they're using is creating a spray of your saliva. They're at risk, but the next person to walk into the dental office and sit down in the air that you have just filled with your saliva droplet is at risk too. And on it goes, so we want to take good care of each other. And also, there's quite a number of procedures that make you cough like have you know when you have that It's called intra oral X ray where they put the little wings in your mouth and then give you the X ray. A lot of people will cough and do a little choke when they have it. And that's normally not an issue. It's not a big deal. But of course, we don't want it anyone coughing around us, when in a confined space. So they missed that. And this is probably a very small risk, but if there was a contamination on a glove or a hand or an instrument that touched you inside your mouth, that puts you at risk. But I would say there's hardly any dental offices that don't already have really, really strict hygiene procedures around that. So that's a low risk.
But when we're thinking about the wider community there's a shortage of masks and gloves and other kinds of equipment for keeping people safe from the virus when when health providers are treating people who are sick and so using up masks and gloves on a non essential dental procedure is using a resource that might be essential to save lives within the next week or month. So we'll just step back and let the people who really need those mask and gloves be using them. And last but not least, as it's keep the dental waiting rooms empty. I don't want to sit in the room with six other people breathing their air and touching their surfaces unless I absolutely have to. So those are my five main reasons why we shouldn't go to the dentist. Even if your dentist says it's okay. You can be sure that their governing body is giving them the advice or haven't already will be giving them the advice soon that it's not okay.
So what could we do at home if we can't get to schedule cleaning or any checkups?
So there is heaps we can do at home for prevention and maintenance. And it's a combination of nutrition, high hygiene, looking after the jaw and the anatomy supporting the teeth and the gums, and then what I call the metaphysical that kind of energetic side of things. And so, in terms of prevention, that a good nutrient dense diet that's rich in minerals and fat soluble vitamins, and has got a lot of really fresh holes wholesome local in season food is the best thing that you can do to nourish your teeth and gums and it's really good prevention. So minimising sugar I think everyone knows sugars, not good for teeth. Don't be stressed eating chocolate right now because that's going to help matters. Also avoiding bubbly water or soda drinks of any kind, even if they don't have sugar in them because the little bubbles in those drinks and the phosphorus in the bubbles can draw out calcium from your teeth and weaken your teeth. So, in terms of maintenance, swear off the fizzy drinks for the duration, I would say, if not for longer. Yeah, so I mean all of these things if you start doing them now and continue doing them forever, you will need a lot less dental interventions because you can take good care of your teeth at home.
What else about nutrition? A lot of the advice that I'm seeing for boosting immunity with different kinds of nutrients is also going to support teeth. But what's different for teeth is that they really do need the vitamin K2 vitamin A and vitamin D which affects soluble vitamins that are most easily found and Raw dairy and organ meats. And so you can supplement with cod liver oil, that's a very good source of all of those vitamins. Or if you're vegetarian, you should be getting your hands on some Natto, which is a Japanese fermented vegetable, which is the only plant based source of vitamin K2. And when you buy a K2 supplement it's made out of Natto if its plant based supplement. Yeah, so there's nutrition, hygiene, keeping your mouth really clean. So that's just common sense.
But making sure that you're cleaning your teeth gently because if you're rubbing too hard with the toothbrush and you damage your gums, then you know making your gums bleed with either toothbrush or floss. That's putting you in a potentially immune compromised position. So brush frequently but gently. Yeah, and remember the point of brushing is to stop the bacteria from getting settled and building up an imbalance, not to kill the bugs, because there's nothing wrong with any of those bugs unless they get out of balance by by by moving the brush around on the tooth, you're just stopping them from settling and building up. Yeah. So those are sort of the basics of prevention. I'm actually running a workshop next week, where I'll go into a whole lot of prevention stuff in a lot more detail.
