At my annual bodily, my physician asks about my weight-reduction plan, sleep, and stress ranges.
When most individuals go to the dentist, they get requested—principally—in the event that they’re flossing.
For forty years, I’ve watched dentists (myself included) focus nearly totally on mechanical cleansing—brushing, flossing, fluoride—whereas utterly ignoring the setting these tooth are sitting in all day!
We handled the mouth like a sink that wanted scrubbing. However your mouth isn’t a sink. It’s an ecosystem. And similar to any ecosystem, it thrives or struggles based mostly on the circumstances you create for it.
Some of the ignored elements is hydration and electrolyte steadiness.
Thirty years in the past, I wouldn’t have believed I’d be writing about electrolytes and oral well being…don’t all of us affiliate electrolytes with physique builders and marathon runners?
However right here’s what I’ve realized: the well being of your saliva determines the well being of your oral microbiome. And the well being of your oral microbiome determines nearly all the things else.
Most individuals suppose saliva is simply water. And sure, it’s 99% water—however that different 1% is performing some severely heavy lifting.
That 1% contains:
- Electrolytes (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, phosphate)
- Antimicrobial proteins
- Enzymes
- Antibodies
- pH buffers
What stunned me most: the viscosity of your saliva—how thick or skinny it’s—instantly impacts which micro organism can thrive in your mouth.
Consider viscosity like this: honey is thick and strikes slowly (excessive viscosity). Water is skinny and flows quick (low viscosity). Your saliva must be proper within the center—not too thick, stringy or ropey, and never too watery.
Once you’re correctly hydrated and your electrolytes are balanced, your saliva has the proper consistency. It’s not too thick, not too skinny. This permits the mucin proteins in your saliva to broaden and create a protecting coating over your tooth and gums—a biofilm, however the good form.
Once you’re dehydrated, your entire system shifts…
Your saliva will get thicker and stickier. Stream price drops. The antimicrobial proteins can’t do their job as properly. And abruptly, the micro organism that shouldn’t be there begin taking up.
Research on sufferers with dry mouth (xerostomia) present clear shifts of their oral microbiome—extra pathogenic species, fewer health-associated species. The identical sample exhibits up in people who find themselves chronically dehydrated, even when they don’t really feel “dry mouth.”
The Dysbiosis Cascade
When your saliva circulation decreases and its composition adjustments, you enter what researchers name “dysbiosis”—an imbalance in your microbial ecosystem.
Right here’s what occurs:
- Useful micro organism (like Streptococcus salivarius) decline
- Pathogenic micro organism (like Porphyromonas, Fusobacterium, Prevotella intermedia) improve
- Biofilm structure shifts from protecting to inflammatory
- Your danger for cavities, gum illness, and even systemic irritation goes up
This will occur even in the event you’re brushing and flossing completely.
I’ve seen it a whole bunch of instances. Sufferers who have been meticulous about oral hygiene however nonetheless struggled with cavities, bleeding gums, or continual dangerous breath. Once we dug deeper, the difficulty wasn’t their brushing approach. It was their inner setting.
You’ll be able to brush and floss on daily basis—however these are all issues that help the oral microbiome solely when your saliva has the best viscosity. With out that basis, your mouth is in hassle.
To not point out…most toothpastes dehydrate and dry your mouth—like most soaps dry your pores and skin.
Your salivary glands want electrolytes to provide wholesome saliva.
Particularly:
- Bicarbonate acts as a pH buffer, neutralizing acids that trigger cavities
- Calcium and phosphate help remineralization of tooth enamel
- Sodium and potassium regulate fluid steadiness and saliva circulation
- Magnesium helps enzyme operate and mineral absorption
Once you’re low on electrolytes—whether or not from dehydration, poor weight-reduction plan, extreme caffeine, or continual stress—your saliva composition shifts. Bicarbonate drops. pH turns into extra acidic. Mineral content material decreases.
And similar to that, you’ve created an setting the place cavity-causing micro organism thrive.
If you happen to’re low in electrolytes, you are inclined to lose moisture and usually tend to get dehydrated.
If you happen to don’t have sufficient electrolytes outdoors your cells, water will get pulled into the cells and away out of your tissues and blood, dehydrating you; in case you have too many, water will get pulled out of the cells, making you hypertonic—so the steadiness of electrolytes is what retains your physique’s water in the best place.
We get too few electrolytes right now as a result of fashionable diets are low in mineral-rich entire meals, our water is stripped of pure minerals, and stress, sweating, caffeine, alcohol, and medicines all improve electrolyte loss.
Chances are you’ll be dehydrated and low on electrolytes in the event you discover fatigue, headache, dry mouth, mind fog, darker urine, muscle cramps, or feeling thirsty even after ingesting water.
For this reason I started paying nearer consideration to electrolytes in my every day routine. I’m loving these ones.
Whereas electrolytes create the bodily basis for a wholesome oral microbiome, inexperienced tea polyphenols create the organic basis.
The primary polyphenol in inexperienced tea—EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate)—has been proven to:
- Disrupt pathogenic biofilm formation (particularly the “dangerous” micro organism like S. mutans)
- Scale back bacterial adhesion to tooth
- Shift the oral microbiome towards health-associated species
- Decrease irritation in gum tissue
However right here’s what makes inexperienced tea so elegant: it doesn’t kill micro organism indiscriminately like antiseptic mouthwash does. It selectively disrupts the biofilms of pathogenic micro organism whereas permitting helpful micro organism to thrive.
Even higher is that green tea acts as a prebiotic—it feeds the great micro organism you need whereas ravenous out the dangerous ones.
That is precisely what you need. You want micro organism in your mouth. You simply want the best steadiness of micro organism.
This realization ultimately knowledgeable the creation of a prebiotic toothpaste firm I co-founded. Most toothpastes deal with killing micro organism. Fygg focuses on feeding the best micro organism whereas rebuilding enamel with nano-hydroxyapatite.
I’ve been ingesting this inexperienced tea for the previous twenty years or so, and I’ve observed a measurable distinction in my oral well being. Much less plaque buildup. Cleaner-feeling tooth. And my hygienist has commented that my gums look higher than they’ve in years.
If you happen to’re coping with:
- Recurring cavities regardless of good oral hygiene
- Bleeding gums
- Persistent dangerous breath
- Dry mouth
- Tooth sensitivity
…your dentist ought to be asking about your hydration standing, your electrolyte consumption, and what you’re ingesting all through the day.
To not point out—in the event you’re ingesting inexperienced tea, then you definately’re displacing different seemingly-healthy drinks that wreak havoc on the oral microbiome—Ollipop, kombucha, and so forth.
Inexperienced tea’s pH is barely acidic, however nowhere close to soda or juice territory.
If you happen to’d prefer to continue to learn, try my interview with Natural Olivia, “Holy Spit.”
Hope you’ve got an incredible week,
Mark
P.S. Sadly, many of the dental discipline isn’t pondering this fashion but. However that’s altering. Practical dentistry is lastly catching as much as what the analysis has been displaying for years: your oral well being is inseparable out of your systemic well being.
If you wish to discover a dentist who will get this, try my Practical Dentist Listing.
These are practitioners who have a look at the mouth as a part of the entire physique, not only a assortment of tooth to wash.
>> If you happen to’re a dentist or hygienist who’d like to hitch us, hit reply—I’d love to listen to from you!