Mouth Hygiene

We all want our teeth to look good and have nice smelling breath but can bad mouth hygiene affect our health?

Digestion starts in the mouth, ideally our teeth should break down our food into a liquid before we swallow it. If you have cracked teeth, missing teeth, sore gums or pain from cavities it is going to be harder for you to chew your food to a liquid, which may lead to digestive problems.

The way our teeth meet, what dentists refer to as our dental occlusion, can have a big effect on our health. If your teeth don’t fit together properly, you may experience problems with:

Grinding
Pain in your jaws, neck, shoulders and even your back
Ringing in your ears
Headaches or migraines – especially in the morning
Pain behind eyes
Sinus pains

Many people have imperfect occlusion but you will be more likely to suffer with this if you have missing teeth.There also appears to be a relationship between bad periodontitis (inflammation and bleeding of the tissues around the teeth) and other inflammatory conditions such as coronary heart disease, insulin resistance and arthritis. Looking after our mouth hygiene prevents periodontitis and inflammation around the body that may be associated with it.

How what we eat can affect our teeth

To keep our teeth healthy we know we need to cut back on sugar but why?
Put simply:

Saliva and bacteria in our mouth forms plaque – this plaque and sugar forms acid – this acid causes tooth decay.

Our teeth can also be exposed to acid through foods; some common acidic foods are:

Wine
Fruit juice
Fruit
Soft/pop drinks and
Vinegar
Fresh lemon squeezed in water

Do not immediately brush your teeth after they have been exposed to acidic foods, hard brushing when the environment in the mouth is acidic may weaken them further; it is better to wait and brush them later, when the mouth has returned to a more alkaline state.

What you can do immediately after eating acidic foods, is to try to neutralise the mouth with something alkaline. You could eat something alkaline such as nuts or drink green tea. Another good tip is to rinse your mouth out with bicarbonate of soda mixed into water; this is a particularly effective thing to do for people who like to start the day with lemon squeezed into hot water, which is acidic.

The following vitamins and mineral will help to maintain the health of your teeth:

Calcium, magnesium (dark green leafy vegetables)
Vitamin D (oily fish)
Phosphorous (pumpkin seeds) – It is very rare to be deficient in this and there would be no need to supplement
Vitamin C (vegetables)

Getting rid of bad breath

The main causes of bad breath are tooth decay and gum disease. You can prevent these by removing any build-up of plaque with brushing, flossing and visiting the dental hygienist regularly.

Bad breath can also be caused by sinusitis (inflammation of the lining of the nose), gastritis (inflammation of the lining of the stomach) and stomach food reflux (heart burn). If you think you may suffer from one of these then speak to your doctor.

You could try chewing gum which has been sweetened with 100% xylitol, to make your breath feel fresher and reduce dental plaque.

Do I need fluoride in my toothpaste?

Fluoride is added to our water and most toothpaste. It is also found in foods such as stewed black tea, coffee, raisins and white wine. Most of us have been brushing fluoride onto our teeth at least twice a day since we grew teeth – is it time we stopped?

Dentist, Mark Breiner in his book about understanding the impact of dentistry on total health says:

‘Fluoride is a poison, and there is enough of it on one standard tube of toothpaste to kill a 20-pound child. It is a waste product of the aluminium and fertilizer industries. When it is introduced into a living body, fluoride acts as an enzyme inhibitor that interferes with cellular functioning’. Breiner, M A (2011) WHOLE BODY DENTISTRY. United States of America: Quantum Health Press.

As fluoride is a poison, applying it topically to the teeth will prevent bacteria growth and cavities but are there safer ways to kill bacteria in the mouth?

Several companies now make fluoride free toothpaste containing ingredients like, bicarbonate of soda, salt or tea tree. Swapping over to these is a great way to maintain oral hygiene whilst avoiding fluoride.