A Practical approach to teeth care:

Start anywhere. Do some basic research. Try some things out.

Important to note: use common sense, don’t use extreme ideas too easily. Keep it simple and habitual. MOST importantly: listen to your what your body tells you. If you are trying a strategy out and your teeth feel noticeably more sensitive, painful, intuitively wrong, then slow down immediately. More times than not, your body’s warning signals are correct.

Now, if you want to have a brief overview of my teeth journey and skip some of the hard lessons for yourself, feel free to take any advice that makes sense for you.

Modern dentistry like many other health advancements have significantly improved the overall wellbeing of humans. However, everyone needs to be their own advocate in all health related matters. This is not easy at first since a tremendous amount of knowledge about health is a prerequisite as well as the ability to discern between accurate and false information. Often the time it takes to accumulate this level of knowledge and experience is prohibitive. Most will fall into one or more health traps before even beginning to put together a sufficient picture. That is the route most go through. Some will be luckier than others and come out of it less scathed having met kind genuine souls to start, some will not be so lucky and be hurt more by the experiential process.

If you possess the wherewithal to assimilate all the necessary knowledge without having to experience it firsthand, you are far above the rest and can most likely avoid the costly mistakes others have gone through and the pain. I had to learn the hard way for the most part.

Dentists like all other professionals of any type come in the entire spectrum between extremely trustworthy, selfless and giving all the way to the worst, most manipulative, only profit driven at the expense of the patients well being and sometimes frankly even evil. Most are somewhere in between this spectrum. Most dentists have good intentions, however many only learned what they were taught and never added more than the conventional thought processes.

Another important point is that dentistry is at its core still a business, and just like any business, has undeniable overheads and expenses that must be met or their business will inevitably close. Leasing office space, front staff, assistants, insurance, electricity, taxes, fees, numerous other bills that most people cannot see, even at the most frugal, add up quite significantly. So at its core, there is a minimum income pressure that exists every single month, and that is required to survive. Add on top of that dentists did not go to school for so long, 4 years of university, and another 4 years of dental school with possible residency and fellowship afterwards and significant amounts of debt, at least in the united states, to earn a minimal wage and scrap by. Yes, there probably are a few angelic souls, but most want a better than average lifestyle and who can blame them.

On top of survival of the business is survival of their practicing license. Dentists just like all other health care practitioners must practice within their standard of care, the norms of what they are allowed and not allowed to do backed up by the available scientific data, which often times is not the most current or accurate. If they stray too far from this, they risk malpractice. The main problem in this area is the patients themselves unfortunately. Most consumers come in with a consumer mindset and demand results oblivious to the fact that true health starts with the individual. Some things don’t have magical fixes, but most want an easy answer that takes away the problem immediately.

The teeth are part of the entire body and therefore an extension of the overall health of the entire person. This needs to be stated twice for emphasis. Too much modern medicine is practiced in isolation of the entire body. Too much medicine isn’t holistic and only looks at that part of the body in isolation, which leads to poor outcomes. Treatments can be given to mask the symptoms ,take away the pain temporarily, but treating the root cause is always the better answer. But it’s more challenging and less financially rewarding. Significantly less financially rewarding. That’s a big part of the challenge. Most knowledge based professions, like law, accounting, top tier consulting charge significant amounts of dollars in exchange for their “knowledge”. However, it’s unrealistic to charge these rates to average consumers for health visits. Over time, this morphed into optimized insurance billing, rewarding procedures and treatments more so than the knowledge given to permanently reverse a problem. To be fair, the problem is structural, because the value of the knowledge provided can not be easily quantified into a number to be billed. And knowledge requires willpower to execute. Without the willpower and discipline of the patient, knowledge is useless. This is why simple quick fixes will always predominate the market- Human nature. Even with the information widely available necessary, only a small fraction of the population has the ability to consistently execute to get the wanted results.

To keep it simple, Teeth are constantly in a cycle of mineralization and demineralization. In the right pH environment, with the right fluids and minerals floating in the saliva, teeth can slowly remineralize. With too much snacking which makes your mouth acidic for longer, or low pH foods constantly coming into contact with the enamel, teeth will demineralize more than they remineralize. If your overall intake of minerals is deficient or your bodies needs for minerals outpaces your intake, your body will take minerals from its mineral stores- bones and teeth. Too much protein consumption for some requires additional calcium to balance- which might again tip the scales if not portioned correctly. Why eating a balanced diet with all necessary vital nutrients is important. This process is ever ongoing and is a direct reflection of the individuals HABITS. Habits are the key. Habits determine the success of failure or any endeavor. Change your habits, change your life.

Simple fixes, less meals throughout the day, less snacking, 2 to 3 larger meals, or less if your body type allows for this lifestyle and you can maintain health properly without multiple meals. Don’t skip meals if your nutritionally deficient. Mouth is generally more acidic for an hour after eating as the bodies natural response to digestion. Also the reason why its generally best to avoid brushing teeth immediately after eating. Best to wait minimum 30 minutes to 1 hour if allowable. Thorough water rinse after eating is hugely beneficial- very high ROI. The key here is to optimize for remineralization. The pathway for each person differs, so a one size fits all protocol cannot be established. But in general, consolidate meals, reduce unnecessary acidity by rinsing and keeping the mouth clean. PROPER diet- if you need help-ask.

The reason fluoride is used in toothpastes is that it forms fluroapatite, a harder but slightly more brittle material that hydroxyapatite- the enamels naturally occurring material. However, fluoride is a neurotoxin. The significance of a toxin varies between person to person and is impacted by numerous factors, but one person might be significantly more sensitive to a particular toxin than another person. An in some situations, if one’s habits are extremely bad, it might be better to use fluoride than not. Benefit to risk analysis. For most, use nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste instead, but not just any nano-hydroxyapatite. Currently at the time of this writing, two products stand out, BioHAP ( biomimetic hydroxyapatite) and NanoXIM. Both these are proven to be efficacious in their results. Highly recommend these. I personally prefer NanoXIM FYGG - available on Amazon, stores, no link here.

Floss only the teeth you want to keep. Common dental saying, but largely true. Use a floss that slides in and out easily, don’t use rugged thick floss that might scrap or damage the enamel when used aggressively.

Use different mouthwashes interchangeably and as tools, same with water floss. Keeping the surface of the tooth free from food that bacteria can utilize is the key to the game. Bacteria on the tooth without a food source is in essence arrested and can’t do much harm. All black spots aren’t dental caries, some are stains, some might be bacteria, but not damaging. Don’t let a dentist tell you every stain needs to be addressed. This is where critical thinking comes in. Get a second opinion. Use what you learned.

The problem with fillings. Fillings are subject to material dynamics, they can change shape, size, shrink and change form. Many dental fillings will shrink marginally over time, but enough to allow contamination in the area, and further decay to invade. Most insurances will cover fillings every 3 to 4 years which is the average lifespan of composite fillings. Fillings like all other tools have their place and can be the best solution for many, especially if they don’t have the discipline for good oral habits. Just be sure to make sure minimal enamel is being worn down to do the filling, find less aggressive dentists. Find a dentist that does proper bonding and area preparation before filling to ensure maximal lifespan of the filling. Try looking into biomimetic dentistry, typically these dentists will use better bonding techniques to ensure much longer lifespan of a filling.

Each person’s body type is unique, so the most important thing in health is to understand it’s not a one size fit all protocol. Genes, epigenetics, habits, lifestyle, diet all affect the success of certain strategies. If you need more detailed analysis of your specific situation or have any questions, feel free to reach out.

God Bless