Tooth Body Blog
Improving Gum Health through Diet
Several years ago, we blogged about a couple of fascinating studies that showed how dietary changes alone can be enough to actually reverse the progress of gum disease. The key was shifting away from refined carbs to something closer to a paleo, primal, or Wise...
Is There a Relationship Between Vitamin D Levels & Teeth Grinding?
One of the most persistent dental headlines throughout the pandemic has been how dentists have seen an increase of tooth grinding due to stress - one of the most common causes of daytime bruxing. (“Bruxism” is the clinical term for habitual clenching and grinding.)...
When Dental Implants Fail…
Recently, we ran across an Arizona TV station’s troubling investigative report on dental implants. Reports of problems with the devices are up. Way up. Analyzing yearly data, there were less than 13,000 reports of problems in 2018. In 2021, reports skyrocketed to...
Lyme Disease: Borrelia burgdorferi & the Mouth
By Michael G. Rehme, DDS, NMD Lyme disease is caused by exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi, an ancient spirochete bacterium dating back millions of years. It’s an extremely adaptable microbe that can infect most anything with blood. Today, it commonly infects...
Xylitol as a Possible Help in Dealing with the Risks of Pregnancy Gingivitis?
While studies linking gum disease with heart disease and cognitive decline are pretty common these days, you don’t hear nearly as much about its link with poor pregnancy outcomes. Yet over the years, science has shown that gum disease indeed raises the risk of low...
The Role of Your Gut (Yes, Your Gut) in Gum Disease
The dental benefit you get from eating healthfully isn’t all about avoiding the foods that can lead to decay and gum disease, although that’s a part of it. Nor is it just about giving your teeth, gums, and bone the nutrients they need, although that’s a part of it,...
Social Isolation Could Mean More Tooth Loss, New Research Shows
It’s been known for a while that social isolation may interfere with a person’s health and well-being. Research has linked social isolation and loneliness to higher risks for a variety of physical and mental conditions: high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity,...
Not Exactly the Kind of GMO Labeling Any Consumers Asked For
Good nutrition is key to mouth/body health, and that means opting for real food, not the ultra-processed junk that continues to dominate many Americans’ diets. Lab-made creations such as chips, hot dogs, enriched bagels and American cheese have been a staple of the...
New Study Highlights the Impact of Gum Disease on Whole Body & Even Mental Health
Consider this: Roughly half of all American adults have some degree of gum disease. Now consider this: Most of the top 10 causes of death these days are conditions that science has shown to be linked with gum disease. Just how much poor periodontal health raises...
The Best of 2021 on the Tooth/Body Blog
Is there anyone - cranky contrarians aside - who wasn’t ready to bid “good riddance” to 2021 this past weekend? Before we close the door on yet another strange and often challenging year, though, we want to take one last look back on what transpired on this blog...
There Are Receding Gums & Then There Are Gums That Are Anything but Receding
If you’ve got receding gums, you’re far from alone. About half of adults under age 65 do - and 88% of seniors - usually a result of things like clenching or grinding, smoking, oral piercings, or just brushing or flossing too aggressively. But while gum recession is...
The Latest Victory in the Fight for Mercury-Free Dentistry
Just as we were finishing up work on our blog post for this week, we got some terrific news from Charlie Brown at Consumers for Dental Choice. So we quickly decided to shift gears for this week and instead share the news with you. The headline on that news item? #1...
Yet More on the Power of Platelet Rich Fibrin (PRF)
Your body has a natural ability to heal. You see it, for instance, any time you get a cut, scratch, or scrape. You bleed, and the blood clots to close the wound. Inflammation kicks in to clean and heal the site. New tissue is created. There are things we can do to...
Ideas for Beating Stress So It Doesn’t Beat You
One thing we can all be grateful for this Thanksgiving is the start of a holiday season that’s a little more like what we’re used to. Of course, this one brings its own particular stresses - extra travel hassles, higher prices - but it’s still an improvement over...
New Research into Remineralization
Here’s the thing about tooth enamel: Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Your body doesn’t have any way to grow more of the stuff. So we stress nutrition to support ongoing remineralization of that enamel and keep both mouth and body more alkaline than acidic, among other...
Should You Floss Before or After Brushing? It Kind of Doesn’t Matter, But…
You gotta admit, it’s a headline just tempting you to click: Trouble is, the study being reported on doesn’t actually tell you what that headline promises. What it does say is that, when it comes to preventing plaque-induced gum disease, some home hygiene practices...
The Impact of Mercury Fillings on Kids
It’s been just over a year since the FDA finally changed its tune on dental mercury. They now advise against it for “certain groups of people,” including pregnant and nursing mothers, those who plan on getting pregnant, children, people with neurological diseases...
Two New Studies : Wisdom Teeth, Dental Ozone
Most of your adult teeth come in before you’re a teenager. So why the big delay in getting your wisdom teeth - something not seen in other primates? A new study in Science Advances offers an explanation at last. To solve the riddle, researchers created 3D...
Fluoride & the Developing Brain
If only one or two studies provided evidence of fluoride’s harm to the developing brain, you might not think much of it, but in fact, dozens of published studies have done so. The latest, published a couple months ago in NeuroToxicity, followed 103 mother/child...
Regular Dental Visits Aren’t Just About Cleanings & Exams
As any celebrity would, actor Stanley Tucci has been hitting the media circuit to promote his newest projects - in this case, a book and a TV series. But in the course of a recent interview for Virgin America’s inflight magazine, he also spent some time talking...