Your mouth is a gateway to health or disease. Skipping the obvious, including the fact that a lot of genetics are involved in mouth health, we can potentially do more damage to our teeth trying our best to take care of them.  Poor mouth health is associated with many conditions, including, but not limited to, dementia and systemic low-grade inflammation — this is the same inflammatory environment implicated in atherosclerosis, insulin resistance and neuroinflammation. Immune dysregulation and oxidative stress, to name but a few. All of these drive illness. 

The relationship is frequently bidirectional: the systemic disease worsens the gums, and the gums worsen the systemic disease. This includes diabetes and cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes. Brain health is a big one — bad mouth, bad brain. Your mouth is a densely vascularized, densely innervated and microbially rich gateway that continuously talks to the rest of the body.

Periodontal (gum) disease is now understood as a chronic inflammatory condition in its own right, and the evidence that it both reflects and drives systemic disease has become substantially stronger in recent research. Knowing this, a lot of us tend to over-care the mouth and actually worsen or cause damage.

We do this by brushing with hard-bristled toothbrushes, brushing with charcoal toothpaste that wears down enamel and using toothpicks daily, creating gum damage. Rinsing with a mouthwash right after brushing can undo the benefit of brushing.

The best way to care for your all-so-important mouth: Use a soft brush with a small head. Use an American Dental Association-accepted whitening toothpaste or ask a dentist about peroxide treatment, as it is the only ingredient clinically proven to change tooth color rather than scratch it off.  Instead of toothpicks, use floss picks, soft picks or a small interdental brush. If avoiding fluoride, choose a toothpaste listing hydroxyapatite as the active ingredient.

Don’t just take care of your teeth: Take care of your teeth using the best and safest things to do so.  A good mouth and teeth can affect quality of life like so many other things we do to optimize living.  But do it right.