“After hundreds of visits to the dentist and thousands of rands spent later, it felt as if one visit lead to ten more” - Tara, cofounder of Lifexpanded shares her story on oral health and what she wishes she knew sooner.

 The medical field is forever changing and updating their knowledge and techniques. However, only recent studies have started to expose the long term negative effects of braces, root canals, birth control, pharmaceuticals and metal fillings. Yes, those treatments that cost you an arm and a leg? Well guess what, they are actually harming you more than you know and costing you more in the future.

 Biological vs Standard Dentistry

But let’s start at the beginning, what is the difference between a biological dentist and a standard dentist? A biological dentist treats the person as a whole by taking into account diet, lifestyle, sleep, stress and other factors that could be affecting the health of your mouth. Whereas a standard dentist focuses solely on your mouth. Biological dentists use safe and natural alternative materials instead of mercury & amalgam fillings (which are now being shown to increase metal toxicity in the body).

 Oral Health Starts from Birth

When it comes to the mouth, one needs to take into account multiple factors starting at birth. The first questions being: "Did your mother give birth naturally or via cesarian?", “Were you breast fed?”, “Do you have a tongue tie”, “Did you struggle to latch”, “How long did you use a pacifier?”, “What diet were you fed?” – all of these answers will help explain whether or not you needed braces as a teenager, struggle with mouth breathing, have overcrowded teeth due to insufficient space in your mouth and if you suffer from cavities & decay. 

During the final stages of natural birth, the last thing to develop in the baby is the gut microbiome, which occurs when baby swallows moms vaginal mucus during natural birth. One can see how this is then compromised with a cesarian and mothers should pay special attention to their child's gut health if that was the case. Breast feeding is the second action that influences the development and structure of a child's mouth. Breast feeding aids proper development of the jaws showing wider and larger structures that go on to form the gateway to the human airway. Bottle feeding and the use of a pacifier long term has been shown to lead to deformed jaws and airways, causing smaller and narrower mouths.

If you have a small & narrow mouth, chances are your mouth was too small for all your teeth, leading to overcrowding and skew teeth. As a teenager you probably then had x4 pre-molars extracted in order to “make space” in your overcrowded mouth with braces. This is a standard procedure by orthodontists everywhere. While this allows for the teeth to be straightened with braces, it completely messes up your biological bite mechanism, leading to long term dental issues. These included unequal force distribution in the mouth = chronic stress on the remaining molars, leading to irritated nerves, root canal treatments, tooth extractions, multiple fillings, implants and cracked teeth.

Now I know that we cant go back and change the way we were born, or how we were fed as infants. However, we can educate ourselves for future infants and change certain lifestyle habits that will help to improve your oral health.

How can you avoid or at least recover your oral health if this story is similar to yours?

Here are the Top 8 things I wish I knew before about Oral Health

1. Brush softly & floss every night.

Brushing your teeth too hard will remove enamel & weaken the teeth. I once heard a biological dentist say this about flossing “Floss the teeth you want to keep”. That’s all I needed to hear to understand how important flossing is. When your gums bleed from flossing, this is actually a good thing! Its allowing the bacteria to bleed out of your mouth instead of accumulate in your gums. I

2. You should be breathing through your Nose & NOT your mouth (especially at night)

Mouth breathing is another result of poor development as a child. Saliva, is our bodies built in system to protect our teeth & gums from cavities & infections. There are multiple things that disrupts the pH balance of our mouths & saliva, - the biggest one being a DRY MOUTH.

Mouth breathing causes a decrease in saliva around the teeth, making them extremely vulnerable to cavities. Mouth breathing specifically during the night has shown to account for 60% of cavities today. A simple tool to retrain your breathing patterns is to use mouth tape at night.

3. Oral microbiome speaks to your gut Microbiome

It has been shown that your oral & gut microbiome directly influence one another. Therefore, maintaining the good bacteria in not only your gut but in your mouth as well, is key to decreasing the risk of bad bacteria build up. Things like alcohol based mouth wash, certain toothpastes and pharmaceuticals destroy the good bacteria in your mouth and gut = leading to increased risk of cavities & gum disease. Opt for Salt water rinses and a probiotic toothpaste to restore the microbiome.

4. Fluoride is Toxic! Use the natural alternative form = hydroxyapatite.

Fluoride is found in most toothpaste, and marketed for its ability to strengthen teeth structure. While this is true, the latter is just as true – Fluoride is a toxin to the human body. Hydroxyapatite is a natural compound found in bone which acts the same as fluoride to strengthen tooth structure & enamel without the toxic side effects.

5. Women & men are different – Women require more Oral Hygiene care.

Women have estrogen & progesterone receptors in the mouth (this is for pregnancy & other hormonal shifts in the body throughout the course of a woman’s life). When a women becomes pregnant these receptors are stimulated, increasing tooth sensitivity & cavities in the mouth. This should be addressed by frequent visits to the oral hygienist and special care during pregnancy. Studies show that cavities & infections in the mouth of pregnant women, directly affect the growing baby. Ozone gas treatment is a great way to clean the teeth & gums.

6. Diet is more important than you think & Veganism is destroying your teeth.

Yep I said it, as an Ex-vegan of 7years, I truly am suffering the consequences for my stubborn diet choice. Look into the Work of Dr Weston Price who studied the mouths of thousands of different cultures & diets around the world, coming to the conclusion that those who consumed organ meats, raw dairy, bone broth and raw vegetables not only showed larger mandibles and jaw structures, but decreased signs of decay, infection and overcrowded teeth. When it comes to minerals & nutrients that your teeth require, calcium is a big one, however, calcium cannot me utilised in the body without the accompany of Vitamin K2 & D3. Rich sources of K2 involve Beef liver, raw dairy, eggs and fermented soya beans. D3 is best received from direct sunlight for at least 10-20min full body exposure / day. 

7. Birth control is not only affecting your hormones, but its destroying your teeth.

Now I myself was put onto birth control, for 7 years too I might add. & seems to be my lucky number (face slap). Studies are now concluding that birth control is responsible for gum disease and inflammation, causing periodontal tissue breakdown, plaque build-up and gingival enlargement. Birth Control has also been shown to increase dry mouth which leads to cavities in the future. If I could go back, I would never have gone on birth control, but instead learnt via so many available sources that the female menstrual cycle is so magnificent and when you learn how to track your cycles, become more In tune with your body and realize that you can only get pregnant 6-7 days of an entire month. That birth control is simply not needed.

8. Root canals or toxic for the body.

When a root canal is performed, the nerve & blood supply of the tooth is essentially cut off. Resulting in a dead tooth. Now the problem with this is that when something no longer has blood supply and lymphatic toxic waste removal systems, and remains in the body = a decaying matter for bacteria to feast on. Emerging evidence is now showing the root canals pose a health risk for conditions such as diabetes, osteoporosis, respiratory disease and cancer. If I were you, Id avoid root canal at all cost. Get the current ones extracted and opt for ceramic metal free implants or bridges.

Teeth can be a tricky thing, most of us do not get taught these things and the learning only comes after we have been severely affected years later when it seems too late. However, the power always remains with us and when we have the knowledge and continue to educate ourselves on the topic, we are able to claim back our birth right – complete health.

I really hope that you found this helpful and that you will look into certain treatments first before going ahead, whether it be for yourself or for your children.

Lots of love,

Tara