​What demineralizes teeth and enamel?

​In simple terms, it is the loss of minerals from your teeth, either from bacteria (the most common cause) or erosion.

​Loss via Bacteria: Your mouth is full of bacteria, which is not a bad thing, and your teeth are coated with a living film (biofilm) of bacteria. When they eat the sugars that enter your mouth, they produc acid. These acidic byproducts don’t just float away but are held by plaque, and so they remain in place against your enamel. If the acid levels drop below 5.5 then this is enough to soften and dissolve the enamel (what primarily gets dissolved is the main component of your enamel, a type of calcium called hydroxyapatite). In a healthy, balanced mouth (and where the sugar intake is not extraordinary) the saliva counteracts the acid in the plaque, this takes a few hours, and “disarms” the acid. When this occurs, then the acids are gone and the minerals are free to leave the plaque and be reabsorbed by the enamel.

​Loss via Erosion:  Acidic foods and drinks, such as lemon juice, orange juice, carbonated sodas (both diet and sugary), wine, coffee, etc., will soften the enamel and allow demineralization to take place. Loss of enamel can also occur from hard tooth brushes, teeth bleaching and abrasive toothpastes such as those with charcoal. Another common source can be from stomach acid (acid reflux).

​Your tooth enamel is the hardest substance in your body and is primarily the mineral, hydroxyapatite (a composition of calcium, phosphorous and oxygen). And while your enamel is a fantastic and durable substance, it does not regenerate. Once your adult enamel has grown in then that is all you will have for the rest of your life.

​We talked about how to maintain a balanced and healthy mouth via good oral hygiene and a clean diet plus strategies to circumvent damage after an indulgence. After all, we should celebrate free of guilt occasionally; even if that involves a sweet treat sometimes.

​So, let’s fortify and keep your teeth strong with a pro-mineralizing toothpaste. You cannot regrow your enamel, but you can strengthen them by remineralization; look for a tooth paste with hydroxyapatite, as opposed to fluoride, as a main ingredient.

​Toothpaste ingredients to avoid:

​Fluoride is the by-product of the manufacturing of copper, aluminum, and iron. There is a warning on toothpaste that if a pea sized amount is swallowed by a child then call poison control. That should be of concern in itself. Yes, it can strengthen teeth as the saliva keeps bathing the teeth. Fluoride does not stay in the mouth, it can be absorbed through the gums and cheeks and fluoride does accumulate in the body. Right amount of fluoride can help in strengthening your enamel and bones but excess levels can even weaken the bones. This process is known as demineralization. In such conditions a person can suffer from tooth decay or osteoporosis, as major side effects of too much fluoride in the body. Fluoride can impair iodine absorption; thus it has an impact on thyroid. Fluoride in combination with potassium affects heart function. It can also cause kidney disfunction (if high amounts of fluoride were ingested, there can be renal damage from the kidneys from trying to flush out this toxin). Fluoride is recognized as a developmental neurotoxin as well. IQs have an inverse proportion to urinary fluoride level, interestingly. It adversely affects learning and memory. There’s issues with neurotransmitters and fluoride, so that neurotransmitters aren’t going to be created quite as easily. And then Alzheimer’s disease, ADHD, and dementia have also all been connected to high levels of fluoride. Use tooth paste with hydroxyapatite instead. Stomach and duodenal ulcers, white spots on teeth, rashes, poisoning and even death can happen in excessive fluoride toxicity.

​Here are some excerpts from an interview with Ann Hill ND:

​"Fluoride interferes with brain function (think Alzheimers), it causes fluorosis (mottling of the teeth), it can  cause early onset puberty, increase miscarriage risk and, wait for it, cause brittle bones! Luckily it is not our only choice. It is not even our best choice. Go read this book for more information: https://www.curetoothdecay.com.

​Artificial sweeteners: Sorbitol, a liquid that keeps toothpaste from drying out, is a laxative that can cause diarrhea in children. Saccharin, another artificial sweetener, has been linked to bladder cancer, brain tumors and lymphoma in rodents. Instead, try stevia or xylitol as natural sweetener alternatives; the latter has been shown to also prevent tooth decay by increasing saliva, thus decreasing bacteria, in the mouth. Do we really need sweet toothpaste though?

​3. Artificial colors: Synthetic colors are derived from coal tar. Only seven colors remain on the FDA’s approved list; all others have been banned. Yellow #5 is under review due to links to hyperactivity, anxiety, migraines and cancer. If your toothpaste contains these, keep shopping. Do we really need colour anyway?

​4. Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS): Originally used to clean floors, sodium lauryl sulfate is a detergent known to cause microscopic tears in the mouth (which can lead to canker sores). It’s an ingredient that makes toothpaste foam; look for glycyrrhizin (a component of the artemisia plant) as a healthier alternative. Foam is a nice feeling. Do we need to foam at the mouth really?

​5. Carrageenan: Derived from red seaweed, carrageenan is added to thicken toothpaste, but it’s been linked to gastrointestinal inflammation, ulcers and even colon cancer in laboratory animals. While food-grade carrageenan sounds safe, it’s also been linked to insulin resistance and glucose intolerance in mice.

​6. Propylene glycol: This is the main active ingredient in antifreeze and is used to soften cosmetic products. It has been linked to damage to the central nervous system, liver and heart. Why is this allowed?! I ask myself.

​7. Triclosan: Triclosan is added to personal care products to reduce or prevent bacterial contamination. An FDA ban on using it in body wash and soaps goes into effect Sept. 6. However, triclosan is still used in the Colgate Total line of toothpastes, according to Consumer Reports. Studies link triclosan to a decrease in thyroid hormones and an increase in antibiotic resistance, as well as tumors in mice. It is like carpet bombing your mouth just like alcohol based mouth washes. In this era of neat and clean where every bacteria should die, we really do suffer because we become imbalanced. It is always about balance IMHO. There are so many different microbiomes living in our body, we have to keep them healthy so that they can keep us healthy.

​At this point you might be thinking: "Oh come on, it is just toothpaste and I spit it out!" You are not wrong. But the things that affect us are cumulative. For example, we get fluoride in our drinking water, toothpaste, dentist visits, medications... there are certain things that we can choose and can control that will hopefully mitigate any accumulation of fluoride, in this case, from getting to a high toxic load in the body. If we can(mitigate), then maybe we should.

​So, what should we do to help ourselves help our teeth?

​Here are some things to include to help remineralize:

​Hydroxyapatite is like fluoride, it’s another micro mineral, and it actually directly makes up about 97% of our tooth enamel. Look for this in toothpaste.

​This is just one study that I’m quoting. But in 2019, there was a study kind of comparing the difference between fluoride and hydroxyapatite to sort of remineralize or strengthen our teeth, and it found that there was really no difference between the two (as far as remineralization). And it’s (hydroxyapatite) actually already been used in dentistry in the US for a lot of different things. And they found that there’s really no adverse health effects to it (hydroxyapatite).

​Remineralization; that just basically means kind of like what we do with fluoride, it’s like making our teeth stronger but let’s do it with different things that are maybe a little bit less toxic.

​Theobromine, some of you might recognize that from chocolate, is supposed to help remineralize the tooth.

​Oil pulling, I just want to bring this in because a lot of people ask me about this.  Certainly, one of the things I like about it is it can actually strengthen the oral cavity muscles and jaws, and we don’t really have anything else that does that. In this study, it did show that oil pulling did help to prevent dental caries and inhibit adhesion of plaque. So if you like to do oil pulling, go for it. The thing I like also about oil pulling is that you can also put herbs in there that might actually help with caries and help with the gingiva.

​Ozone therapy, this is something I use a lot. The dentist that I like to refer to will use this as well. Ozone basically is like our all natural killer, it’ll kill off viruses, bacteria and fungus. Many dentists will apply it to the gums (as ozonated oil or ozonated water) for gingivitis. They’ll use ozone in root canal therapy to sterilize the area. They’ll use it to kill small cavities. They’ll use it for sensitive teeth as it’s been found to be quite helpful. And then we use it also as an injection underneath the gum line for after a cavitation surgery or after a tooth has been pulled in order to help continue to kill anything off, any infections that were in there. Okay, and so I do this along with the dentist. They usually start with the dentist and then I have people follow up with me once a week for four to six weeks to get this done.

​A product that I really like, is ozone in an oil, with clove and I think, artesunate (a derivative of artemisia) added. There’s a couple of different herbs in here that are really good for fighting off bacteria. And so I’ll have people actually put this along the gum line where they’ve had a tooth pulled.

​Quercetin; quercetin has been my favorite herb or nutraceutical this year because it’s been really great for helping to support and balance our immune system. And I just wanted to bring this up, I found this on PubMed, I had no idea. So I’m going to probably start using this also for periodontal disease in my patient population.

​Green Tea, another great excuse to go drink your green tea. Green tea compounds have been found to prevent that porphyromonas gingivalis from adhering to the cells in our mouth. There is just a great herbal formula from a friend who’s an herbalist, Kathy Abascal, and Eric Darnell, who’s a naturopathic physician. And they actually recommend putting these herbs together and actually placing them in a Water Pik like device, and gently washing any pockets that you have, any deeper pockets. And I think that’s great because honestly, what more do we have to do? Like, we can’t just keep going to the dentist like every week, and this is something that can maybe possibly be helpful to keep fighting off bacteria and helping with the tonification of the tissues.

​Biofilm breaking support, I definitely always add this in as well. This is one of my favorite companies, Biocidin. This is kind of this one formula that they’ve come up with that is a very successful formula. And I believe they also have a toothpaste and a liposomal two formula in it to help with this. So, I usually just have people put this in water and swish, and then swallow.

​Oil probiotics, just to be mindful, streptococcus salivarius was found to be one of the bacteria that lives in our mouth. However, if you have a problem with strep or have too much strep, which a lot of my patients do, then it might cause a red rash around your mouth, and it might cause more inflammation in your gut. So I generally tend to tell people to stay away from this if it’s in your probiotic strain. And there’s a lot of companies that have come out with probiotics that have strep in them. I generally, just as a rule, say, please do not buy a probiotic with strep in it. Lactobacillus reuteri has been one of the most studied strains in general. However, what they have also found is, just clinically, for gingivitis treatment. And again, I would just have people swish this in their mouth and then go ahead and swallow it because it’s good for the whole gut.

​Glycerin: When glycerine is spread over the surface of our teeth, it leaves a film or residue which does not easily come off — it can take somewhere between two and three dozen rinsings of the mouth to completely remove it. I think it would be a safe bet to say that everyone reading this does not rinse their mouth that many times after brushing their teeth.

​So, what is the concern with having this glycerine film on our teeth? The thing is, that our teeth are neither static or solid, as we tend to imagine them, and they are continually in a process of flux of demineralization and remineralization. Elements such as calcium and phosphorous, amongst others, are continually flowing out of our teeth, through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, while a new influx is continuously flowing back into the teeth. Imagining this very living process certainly adds more weight to the role of proper nutrition, as our whole body is constantly in a state of rebuilding or repairing one thing, or another.

​The film of glycerine residue from toothpaste which coats our teeth blocks this natural demineralization / remineralization process, and therefore creates the conditions of accelerated tooth decay or cavitation in our mouths. Even when someone’s diet and oral hygiene habits are “perfect” for having healthy teeth, this issue with the glycerine-based toothpastes can be enough to create very undesirable and unexpected results in the mouth.

​There are a variety of commercial alternatives to toothpaste available, such as tooth soap (your mother always threatened to wash your mouth out with soap!), or tooth powders, such as “Theraneem Naturals”. These are all glycerine and fluoride free, and you can explore the variety of textures and flavours as suit your taste the best.

​ Ann Hill ND

​Micronutrients for the mouth? absolutely

​According to Dr Mary Ellen Chalmers, DMD: These are must haves for a special vitamin / mineral product for the mouth. Such as the vitamins B (must be the activated form of B) because so many of our patients have chronic disease—and methylation issues, meaning the inability to utilize inactive forms of B vitamin. This makes activated B vitamins a priority.

​Next is: CoQ10: This is critically important for our patients who are on statins. We actually see changes in periodontal tissue once statins are prescribed.  I’ve had patients that been completely healthy periodontally, meaning their gums are healthy, until their doctor prescribed statins... Statins block the production of coQ10 and cholesterol (which is the oil that lubricates the joints and the main component of the brain).

​Vitamin C is critically important because vitamin C addresses free radicals.

​Vitamin D there is a dramatic link between vitamin D and periodontal disease. Years ago when patients would come in with periodontal disease, I would send them back to their physicians asking for inflammatory marker HSCRP and vitamin D levels. And invariably in periodontal patients we were seeing vitamin D levels well below thirty (nmol/L). The Institute of Medicine (IOM), however, considered blood levels of 50 nmol/L (20 ng/ml) of Vitamin D to be sufficient Why so low? Because the IOM was only considering bone health. Even if we cared just about our bones and not our lifespan, we’d still probably want to shoot for a 75 nmol/L (30 ng/ml) threshold, because there’s evidence from hundreds of autopsies of people who died in car accidents, for instance, showing osteomalacia, or softening of the bones, in 18 to 39 percent of people who reach the IOM target of 50 nmol/L, but failed to make it to 75 nmol/L. ( Michael Greger M.D. FACLM). So having vitamin D levels less than 30 ng/ml is insufficient. 

​Probiotic toothpaste we’ve actually had patients brush with probiotics. Xymogen has a product, Strep Salivarius, that actually we use here the office quite a bit for decay patients. So certain probiotics are good to add.

​Lastly a good quality fish oils.There’s actually a study that showed that when a substance named resolvins (manufactured from fish oil) relieved the inflammation (due to fish oils and resolvins anti-inflammatory properties) it completely changed the bacterial flora. They didn’t alter the bacterial flora with treatment. It was actually by removing the inflammation with fish oils that they were able to fundamentally change that patient’s periodontal health! Do shop for a good quality fish oil by a reputable company where the fish are not farm raised nor are they living in contaminated waters.

​ Like Rosita cod liver oil or rat fish oil from the clear Norwegian waters: https://www.rositausa.com. or

​Dr mercola’s antarctic krill oil: https://www.mercolamarket.com/product/665/1/krill-oil-180-per-bottle-90-day-supply.Or 

​Green Pastures Cod Liver Oil.  www.codliveroilshop.com. 

​Now, there’s a problem with commercial cod liver oils that you can buy in the store. And the problem is that they filter out or destroy the fat-soluble vitamin D and replace it with a synthetic fat- soluble vitamin D from sheep’s wool. Nutritious and delicious. Just kidding. It’s the fat-soluble vitamin D that stops cavities (not the synthetic vitamin D), so having the fat- soluble vitamin D in its natural form is going to be the best way for you as a reader to remineralize your teeth.

​Cure tooth decay and Repair Your Teeth Naturally With Good Food by Ramiel Nagel

​Another interesting thing to explore is the "Life Cycle of a Tooth" from the general dental perspective (I am talking to you Dr. Pickard!). Basically, the cycle is cavity filled, cavity filled, crown, then root canal. The general dentist is doing the best that they can with the knowledge that they have. It is what they know but we can now do better. There is so much information out there. We just open our mouths and dentists do their thing without really knowing what is going on in there. I urge you to sign up below to watch the videos. Every day you will receive one short video of the tooth problem of the day (crowns, cavities, root canals...) and how it is fixed and alternative solutions. Dr O'Malley works on a mould of teeth so there is no gross or gory mouth stuff going on for you to watch. I found these videos to be quite educational. I mean, we really don’t know what is happening in our mouth, we just trust that doctor / dentist knows best. Knowledge is power. Sign up here: https://www.freeholisticdentalcourse.com.

​ Stay Bendy,

​Michelle

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​Disclaimer: If you have a dental or medical emergency, seek professional medical care from a dentist or doctor (whichever is most apprpriate) or call 911. These newsletters are for entertainment purposes only and should not be used as medical advice. I am a yoga instructor who loves to learn and share what I have read. Hopefully I have piqued your curiosity to discover what is best for you. Stay curious! If you have any yoga questions or if you have a topic that you would like me to discuss, please email me. I will answer yoga questions.